;i 



|HE 




1 ^ 




my V C00K8EY PIBUSHINO CO. 



CLOTH *1.00l 



OLNEXILL. 



MPER50* 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

-On 



ip. u 



Chap.. ______ Copyright 'No. 

Shell_ 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED 



BY THE 

Little Deacon 



COOKSEY PUBLISHING COMPANY, 

OLNF.Y, ILLINOIS. 
1900. 



TWO COPIES RECEIVED, 

Library or c®ngrei% 
wfflcs 9 f tt|« 

MAY2619Q0 

HegfUter of 'Copyrl^it^ 
8ECOND COPY, 



62476 

Entered According to Act of Congress 

By Rev. N. B. Cooksey 

In the Office of Librarian of Congress 
at Washington 



V 



Ui INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 



In presenting this word picture of modern pilgrim- 
age experience, we hereby gratefully acknowledge our 
indebtedness to the Christian experience and writings 
of others. While we have freely used the same, we 
desire that they shall have full credit so far as the 
nature of the work will permit. 

We need not apologize for the fact that this work 
is somewhat fictitious. We would emphasize the fact 
that it is largely a description of actual experience of 
the Author and others. We use fiction only for the 
purpose of more clearly conveying spiritual truth, as 
did the Blessed Christ in his parables. 

Olney, III., 1900. AUTHOR. 



CHAPTER I. 

Some people say there is no devil now, as there used 
to be, but I know, from experience, that the devil is 
not dead yet. He is still in business at the same old 
stand. He does the same kind of business he used 
to do, but he may do it in a more deceitful way. Yes, 
the world still has a devil, and he is no little, stupid 
devil either, but he is strong, wide-awake and up-to- 
date. You make a great mistake if you think he is a 
harmless little brownie with broom-stick legs, pipe-stem 
arms and monkey hands, whom you can toss about as 
an object of laughter and sport. Those people who 
make the devil an object of sport to amuse the vulgar 
and add to the merriment of the social circles may find 
out some day that he is a supernatural and powerful 
being, and that he has them, soul and body. 

The devil and I first met when I started on the way 
to glory. You may think it strange that I should not 
have seen him sooner, but I will tell you I have found 
he never does pay much attention to a fellow so long 
as that fellow is as mean as he wants him to be. But 
if we want to quit our meanness and start on the way 

5 



6 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

to glory, he is on hand to oppose us, and that quickly, 
too. 

Satan and I first met at the foot of the holiness 
mountains, where the road forks, one going through 
the plains of sin to the land of perdition and the other 
up the mountain to the portals of glory. I was very 
much surprised when I first saw him; he did not look 
anything like I had supposed he would. I had often 
seen his picture and supposed that he had long horns, 
cloven feet, a skeleton-like body, and a fiendish look. 

If he had any horns, they were covered up ; if he 
was cloven footed, I could not detect it, and, instead 
of being a lean, skeleton-like person, he was plump 
and looked as though he was well kept; in fact, he 
looked real genteel and dignified, more like an angel 
of light than the old-time devil people used to talk 
about. Instead of being a horrible, ugly, frightful 
being, he looked like a high-toned gentleman, who 
would make a very favorable impression on almost 
anybody. 

When he found I was determined to go to glory, he 
did not seem much inclined to oppose me. At this I 
was greatly surprised, for I had fully expected that he 
would lay hold of me and do his best to force me to go 
with him down the road that runs through the plains 
of sin to the land of perdition. He seemed glad that I 
had started to glory, and spoke very highly of that 
beautiful country. I tell you I was glad, for I had 
expected to have the biggest fight on my hands that I 
had ever been in. I thought he would surely tackle 
me right at the beginning of my Christian life, and I 
had been watching him very closely that he did not get 
any advantage of me. You have no idea how encour- 
aged I felt when I found he was not disposed to oppose 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 7 

me. After that I did not watch him so closely, for I 
did not feel much afraid of him. 

I expressed surprise that he was so friendly and so 
much better looking than I expected. My grandfather 
had always talked about his long horns and cloven 
feet, and I had seen his picture so often that I had 
gotten an idea that he was a terrible creature. When 
I told him he did not look like his picture, and that I 
expected him to have great horns and cloven feet, he 
said : "Don't you know the world is moving, and men 
are not as they used to be. I would be a fool to appear 
with horns in this day and age of the world; modern 
times require modern methods of doing business, and 
my business is no exception to the rule." 

I said to myself, well, they need not tell me that 
the devil is an ugly old fiend any more, for he is not, at 
least if he is, he does not show it. 

I had no idea of making the devil my chum or com- 
panion, but I did right there, and then determined that 
I was going to find out all I could about him, and if 
he was really playing a deception upon the world, I 
would write a book and expose him. 

I had always supposed that the devil never had much 
to do with anybody but Christians, for they were the 
only people who ever had much to say about him. I 
very naturally concluded that he did not have so very 
much to do outside the church, and that he spent most 
of his time either in visiting other worlds or in baking 
his old bones over the camp-fires of perdition. 

When I expressed surprise that the devil should have 
never appeared to me until I determined to start on 
the way to glory, he said he had never had any occa- 
sion to reveal himself to me before, for I always did 
exactly what he wanted me to do, and so long as I 



8 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

was going his way he was satisfied. "But," said he, "I 
have had more influence on your past life than you 
suppose. I saw you when you first began to steal big 
lumps of sugar from the old sugar barrel, when the 
folks were all gone to church, and I had something to 
do with that, too. I saw you when you told that big 
lie on your teacher. You said it was always a mystery 
what made you do it, as it could be of no advantage 
to you ; I had something to do with that. I saw you 
when you got into a fight with your schoolmate, and I 
had something to do with you and him both. I saw 
you when you and your brother began a play that 
ended in a fight, and a thousand other times I was 
present with you when you little expected it, but as 
long as you were as mean as I wanted you to be, it was 
not necessary for me to appear to you, as I do today." 
"It is the people who are trying to get to glory who 
make me the most trouble. The people who are work- 
ing for God are the ones who give me the most con- 
cern. Idle people and dead churches I do not mind at 
all; they are rather an advantage to my cause; but live 
churches make me no end of trouble. That big church 
up on Grand avenue, which encourages dancing, card- 
playing, theater-going, horse racing, Sunday excur- 
sions, Sunday baseball, Sunday papers, and all kinds 
of worldly pleasure and amusements does not give me 
much concern. I can detail one fallen spirit to take 
care of that church and he will do it and sleep half of 
the time. But there is a little church out on Hard 
Scrabble circuit that is just like a swarm of bees, they 
are always at work, and I need a whole delegation of 
fallen spirits to help me, and then we cannot control 
them. So long as people are drifting down the current 
of sin, unconscious of any danger, I do not appear to 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. g 

them, or give much concern about them, but those 
glory-bound fellows keep me hustling all the time." 

When the devil said that it made plain to me a thing 
I never before understood. I often wondered why 
Christians were always talking about their temptations, 
and sinners did not. It always seemed very strange 
to me that the devil should always be tempting the best 
people instead of going in his own crowd. I said, now 
it is all plain; he does not tempt the sinner so much 
because he does not need to be tempted, as he does the 
devil's dirty work without it. But the devil tempts 
the good man because he cannot hope to get him any 
other way. 



CHAPTER II. 

When I started to leave Satan and enter the road to 
glory, he saw that I had something in my bosom. He 
said : "What is that you have there ?" 

I said : "That is my little guide-book father gave 
me to guide my steps from earth to glory." 

"That is an old fogy notion/' said he. "You do not 
need that; it is an old-fashioned out-of-date book that 
people used to venerate. You must remember you are 
living in an age of progress and advanced thought. 
You will have no use for such an out-of-date book as 
that. Besides, it will interfere with your personal lib- 
erty, for it is full of restrictions and prohibitions, which 
forbid entering into the amusements and pleasures of 
life." 

I said: "See here, old fellow, I have heard that 
kind of jabbering before, and I want to tell you that if 
you expect me to give up my Bible, you are greatly 
mistaken ; it guided my good old father safely through 
life and up to glory, and what was good enough for 
him is good enough for me. He lived happily and use- 
fully, went home to glory shouting the praises of God, 

IO 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. n 

and he always said that the Bible and the grace of 
God made him what he was. As to liberty, the Bible 
allows perfect liberty, except liberty to sin, which I 
do not want." 

"Well," said he, "God has given you a noble reason 
and a magnificent intellect, and you should be guided 
by them instead of an old book." I said : "Those may 
be sufficient to guide me in temporal matters, but not 
in spiritual life. I shall use all the intellect and reason 
God has given me, but reason alone is not a safe guide 
from earth to glory." 

"Well," said the devil, "if you follow the teachings 
of that book you will soon get into a muddle, for it is 
full of mysteries that you can never understand. How 
do you expect to understand the trinity, the new birth, 
the witness of the Spirit and thousand other things?" 

I said : "See, here, do you think I am going to be 
such a fool as to expect to give the philosophy of these 
Bible Mysteries? I do not need to do that; all I have 
to do with them is to admit them as facts of Revela- 
tion. Even Christ did not undertake to explain these 
things. There is enough in the Bible that is plain and 
easily understood to guide me from earth to glory, 
and I can afford to wait until I get to Heaven to un- 
derstand the philosophy of things." 

"Well," said the devil, "I never could see what there 
is in that old book that gives it such a charm for many 
people. I think it must be the Christ man in it, and 
perhaps I never shall be able to destroy its influence 
until I succeed in getting the Christ man out of it. 
A long time ago I had some fellows write some books 
against this old book, and had (hem declare with great 
vehemence that this Christ man was a deceiver, a 



12 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

wretch and an impostor, but the people seemed to cling 
to it all the more. Then I got some intellectual fel- 
lows to write more books and declare that he was a 
good man. They lauded him to the skies, saying he 
was the only perfect man, but he was not the Son of 
God. After that the people seemed to cling to this 
book more than ever, and said infidels were getting to 
believe the Bible. I then got some scientific fellows to 
write on Science just as though they never thought of 
this book, but in such a way as to contradict it and 
destroy the teachings of that Christ man. Yet you 
fellows will cling to this old book as though your lives 
depended upon it." 

I said to the devil : "Look here, I tell you now, once 
for all, there is no use of you trying to get this little 
book away from me. I shall carry it in my bosom as 
long as I live. You may take my life if you must, but 
you can never take this book from me, for it is to be 
the lamp to my feet through life. As to its being old- 
fashioned, I admit that, and that is one reason why I 
prize it so highly. While it is an old-fashioned book, it 
contains many of the finest gems of literature in the 
world, and is admitted by the greatest scholars to be 
the greatest literary production of the world. All 
classes of great men are coming to it as the great 
fountain of literary excellence, and it is being quoted 
ten thousand times more than any other literary work 
in the world. " 

Just then an old man approached me. I recognized 
him as Infidel Croaker. I had often seen him before 
and knew him to be a bitter opponent of the Bible. It 
instantly occurred to me that he was going to re-enforce 
the devil in trying to get me to give up my Bible. But 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 13 

I was delighted to learn that he had been rescued from 
the errors of infidelity, and was there to entreat me to 
cling to the blessed Bible. I was greatly surprised 
and more than delighted when he said : "One of the 
greatest mistakes of my life has been that of finding 
fault with the Bible. I used to delight to make life as 
unpleasant for the Christian as possible. I harped 
much on the defects of the Bible and the faults of 
Christians. When I lived down on Croaker avenue, I 
had pretty much my own way, as our family was very 
large and we were in the majority. When our folks 
were moving over to Grumble street, I said to the par- 
son, with whom I was quite familiar : 'Parson, we are 
moving over to Grumble street, and I guess you will 
be glad to get rid of me.' What do you think he said ? 
He expressed great surprise and regret that I 
should move out of the neighborhood. He said he did 
not see how he could get along without me. I said : 
'Why will you miss me, parson?' He said: 'Well, 
I'll tell you. There can't be a sheep in my flock that 
gets out, but you bark all the way from one end of the 
town to the other. I really think you have been one of 
the most faithful watchdogs I ever had.' 

"You better guess I didn't ask the parson any more 
questions. One day I was in the postofrice and met 
Judge Happy from Happy Hollow, Mr. Joy from 
Hosanna avenue, and Mr. Freeman from Holiness 
Heights. We all got into a conversation, and I was 
finding fault with the Bible. I told them one of my 
chief objections to it was the fact that it was an old 
style, out-of-date book. This age of progress and 
mighty strides of science had outgrown it and what 
we needed was more 'advanced thought' than was 



14 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

found in the Bible. I tell you I soon found out I was 
not among the little fish of Croaker avenue. Old Judge 
Happy turned on me and made me ashamed of myself. 
He showed me that the age of the Bible was one of the 
strongest arguments in favor of its Divine inspiration. 
He said its preservation when all other books had 
passed away was almost a miracle, and was evidence 
of Divine protection. He declared that its style was of 
the very highest literary worth, and that all great 
scholars, statesmen and orators come to it as the great 
source of literary excellence, it being quoted ten thou- 
sand times more than any other book. 

"Then I advanced the idea that the Bible was too 
mysterious and could not be understood. Mr. Joy, 
who is one of the smartest and most devoted of Hosan- 
na avenue, soon knocked that objection sky high. He 
showed that all that was necessary to salvation was 
perfectly plain and that many other things were only 
mysterious because we did not study them as we study 
problems of mathematics or science. As a last resort 
I objected to the Bible because it so plainly exhibits 
our faults and told them I did not blame anybody for 
refusing to read it when it always made them so un- 
happy. Then Mr. Freeman from Holiness Heights let 
loose his battery on me and completely done me up. 
He said I made him think of his big dog Rover. One 
day he slipped into the house, and looking across the 
room, he saw a big Newfoundland dog looking at him. 
He rushed toward it, the other dog ran toward 
him, and when they came together there was a great 
collision, and a big mirror was smashed all to pieces. 
Rover had plunged at his own image. He said that 
was just the way with me; I got mad and would smash 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 15 

the mirror of Divine Revelation to pieces because when 
I stood before it I saw an old sinner. Says he : 'That 
is what the Bible is for, to make the sinner feel bad by 
showing his sins, and then pointing to Christ the 
Divine remedy.' He declared the people of Holiness 
Heights felt happy when they read the Bible, because 
they were comforted by the view of hearts cleansed 
and made pure through the blood of the Lamb. He 
declared the reason us people on Grumble street and 
Croaker avenue felt so uncomfortable when we read 
the Bible was because it showed our. sinful hearts, but 
if we would go to Christ and get converted, we, also, 
would be happy in reading the Word. 

"I just made up my mind right then and there that 
I was going to make another move, and I went to 
Thanksgiving street. I have been living there ever 
since and I like it splendid. I shall never live on 
Grumble street or Croaker avenue again. The place I 
am now living is so much higher and healthier, the air 
is more pure, and the scenery is far better, besides the 
people are so much more agreeable. I don't find fault 
any more with the Bible. We are all living a life of 
trust and whatever comes to us in life, we cheerfully 
accept as the will of God without murmuring or com- 
plaining. I am now happy all the time, and want to 
live on Thanksgiving street until I get my transfer to 
the City of God. I say to you, young man, cling to that 
Bible, for it will guide your feet safely up the pilgrim 
path to the Celestial City." 

I felt greatly encouraged by Brother Croaker. As I 
turned and looked toward the promised land, I saw 
before me a large company of pilgrims, many of whom 
had turned to the left and were going toward the 



16 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

plains of sin. "Look yonder," said the devil, "did I 
not tell you so? Those people who are turning out 
to the left have found out that the Bible is not a safe 
guide-book. Many of those people are as smart as 
you, some are doctors, lawyers, statesmen, philosophers 
and scientists, and they have found that what I say 
is so — the Bible is too mysterious." 

As I drew near this company I could see that every 
one of them had thrown away his Bible, and they were 
following the lamp of reason. They had substituted 
books of science and philosophy for the word of God. 
Then I turned to the devil and said: "See here, you 
cannot fool me that way. These people have never 
tested the Bible to see if it is a safe guide from earth 
to glory. They have listened to your tempting words 
and have thrown away their Bible, and are relying upon 
the lamp of reason. They talk about nothing but 'ad- 
vanced thought,' 'the mighty strides of science,' 'the 
mysteries of the Bible and religion.' I believe in true 
science and know it will harmonize with the Bible and 
help the Christian heavenward, but this nonsense that 
they call science is unreliable, for it changes every time 
a new book appears. A fellow needs to take a daily 
scientific paper to know what is the latest teachings of 
such science. Tomorrow they will condemn what 
they teach today. This they teach is no science at all, 
but it is theory and conjecture, having no scientific 
basis whatever. There is no clash between well au- 
thenticated science and the Bible, but this scientific 
hash has scarcely a grain of well authenticated truth 
in it. You cannot fool me on any such scientific non- 
sense. I am going to hold on to this precious book 
and go straight on to glory, mystery or no mystery." 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. ly 

Then I saw coming from that company one whom I 
recognized as Brother Zed, a fellow pilgrim who 
started on the way some time before I did. As he drew 
near he lifted his hand in warning, saying: "Brother 
pilgrim, this is dangerous ground ; right here thou- 
sands of pilgrims have been tempted of the devil and 
turned back to a life of sin. I myself was deceived by 
the old tempter and I turned aside and spent many 
years with that great company of skeptics. All these 
years I rejected salvation because there were mys- 
teries in religion. 'Religion is too mysterious,' was 
my favorite reply when approached upon the subject 
of religion. For some time I considered that a good 
and efficient reason for continuing in sin. Perhaps I 
never would have been religious had I not met little 
David Overjoy. When I told him that religion was too 
mysterious, that I would not go into anything I could 
not understand, it did not seem to bluff him at all. He 
said: 'Well, Zed, it's true there are some mysterious 
things about religion, some things that perhaps we shall 
never fully understand until we get to heaven, but all 
that is essential for us to know to be saved is perfectly 
plain, and a fool need not err therein.' 'Mr. Overjoy/ 
said I, 'you people claim that in conversion God's Spirit 
comes into your heart and cleanses it from sin. Now, 
sir, I cannot understand how such things can be pos- 
sible, and I do not want anything to do with anything 
that I do not understand.' 

"Little David said : 'Well, Zed, Christ declared the 
fact that we must be born again, born of the Spirit, 
but he did not think it necessary to give the philosophy 
of it, as that is not important. We accept the fact, 
but to know just how God can do that is not essential 
to living a Christian life and dying a happy death. If 



18 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

you do not have anything to do with things that are 
mysterious, pray tell me why it is that the grain like 
you eat in your daily bread, when fed to sheep, makes 
wool on their backs, and when fed to ducks makes 
feathers on their backs, but, when you eat it, makes 
hair on your head. Why does it not make wool or 
feathers on your head instead of hair?' 

"I said: 'Well, David, I must confess I cannot 
answer that; it's a great mystery.' 'Then you had 
better quit eating bread until you can understand this 
matter. The very air you breathe is a great mystery; 
you had better quit breathing. This light going into 
your eyes and producing vision is a mystery ; you had 
better close your eyes until you can understand the na- 
ture of light. The sound by which you are enabled to 
hear my voice is a great mystery that philosophers 
cannot understand ; you had better stop your ears until 
you can understand it. The scent of a rose is a great 
mystery to the most learned philosophers ; never do you 
smell those sweet odors again until you can explain 
it. Yes, Zed, you are living in a world of mystery, be- 
neath you are mysteries, around you are mysteries, 
above you are mysteries, and your own body is a 
wonderful mystery. Why reject religion because of 
its mysteries when you believe in ten thousand things 
around you that are more mysterious?' 

"I said : 'Friend David, I admit all you say about 
the mysteries of nature, but I am honest in this matter, 
and I want you to tell me how to understand the mys- 
teries of religion,' 

" T will do that,' was the prompt reply. 'The best 
way in the world is to test religion for yourself. Give 
your heart to God and see if he will not pour out a 
blessing upon you that you shall not be able to con- 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 19 

tain. You never can understand these things except 
by a personal experience of the saving power of God 
in your heart. No theologian can explain religion to 
you satisfactorily; you must experience it for your- 
self.' 

"This conversation with Little David Overjoy cured 
me of finding fault with religion because of its mys- 
tery. I took his advice and when the blessing of sal- 
vation came into my soul it was so glorious that all 
concern for a solution of the philsophy of salvation 
was gone, and ever since I have been trying to warn 
pilgrims against this temptation of Satan." 

With many words did Zed encourage me to go for- 
ward in Christian life. After he was gone I said : 
"Get thee behind me, Satan, I am going to glory. I am 
going to seek religion at once." 

"There is no such thing as religion," said the devil. 

Never in my life had there been any question in my 
mind about the reality of religion, but Satan was so 
positive and declared with such vehemence that there 
was no such experience, I began to wonder if it were 
possible that he was right. 

Just then brother Dan came to my rescue. I had 
known him as "Infidel Dan," and I was greatly sur- 
prised when he said to me : "Brother pilgrim, don'l 
you listen to the devil. For years he made me believe 
there was no such thing as religion, but I have found 
out better. I want to tell you that skepticism as to 
religion has been the great mistake of my life. I 
plunged headlong into sin and infidelity, determined to 
resist all good. I took delight in studying the works of 
skeptics, and giving Christians hard skeptical prob- 
lems to solve. It was my delight to harrass good peo- 



20 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

pie all I possibly could. I also found fault with God's 
book of Nature as well as his book of Revelation. I 
boldly declared that God had made a bungling job of 
the work of creation, and often showed how I could 
make improvements in it. I got cured of that in this 
way : My brother Tom and I went out late in the 
fall to the hickory grove to get some nuts. It was a 
warm afternoon, and we took off our coats and hats 
and sat down to rest under a big scaly-bark tree. While 
we were sitting there talking, we noticed some large 
gourd vines which had run on the fence, and were full 
of great long-necked gourds. I said to Tom : 'Look 
here, Tom, what a mistake God has made putting such 
big fruit on such little vines. He ought to have put 
the hickory nuts on the vines and the gourds on the 
big trees, for the trees could better support the gourds 
and the nuts would be quite heavy enough for these 
delicate vines. Preachers are always talking about 
the wisdom of God in nature, I could beat such wis- 
dom as that myself. 

"I had hardly said that when down came a big hick- 
ory nut from the top of the tree under which we sat, 
and hit me a terrible whack right on the center of my 
bare head. I tell you, it made me dance for a little 
while, and Tom laughed like he would kill himself. 
'There,' said he, 'suppose that had been one of these 
long, hard gourds that you would have grow on trees, 
where would you have been now? I think it would 
have smashed your head; there would have been 
another big funeral and the preachers would preach 
you to hell of course/ 

"I tell you, that set me to thinking, for such a lick 
would make most anybody think. I was hit in the right 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 21 

place to make me think, for the only place to hit a skep- 
tic to bring him to his senses is square on top of the 
head. After that I considered more carefully the 
works of nature before I criticised the wisdom of God. 
To my great surprise I found nature everywhere, not 
only declared the power of God, but also his great 
wisdom. 

"I soon got a setback, also, in my criticisms of ex- 
perimental religion. While the 'Deacon' was holding 
a revival at Mount Carmel, I attended to criticise him. 
I got some good points, and over I went to Uncle 
Jesse Baird's to have some fun out of him about his 
preacher. He and I used to have a round on Bible 
questions every few weeks. After we had discussed 
religion for some time, Uncle Jesse said : "Well, Dan, 
you don't think there is any good in religion at all.' I 
said : 'Well, I'll tell you, Uncle Jesse, I don't believe 
there is any hell, and I am very sure that everybody 
will be saved without religion, but to be frank with 
you, I will say that it may be a good thing for the 
preachers to preach hell-fire and keep the toughs all 
scared and afraid to commit crime for that seems 
necessary to keep them obedient to law. In this re- 
spect, the church is doing a good work, for if there 
were no churches anarchy and lawlessness would soon 
reign supreme in our land. Every reader of history 
knows that the most law-abiding countries are Chris- 
tian lands, and that anarchy, revolution, lawlessness 
is a characteristic of countries that have not the Gospel. 
So far as experimental religion and future punish- 
ment is conccrnc(J, I do not believe in it.' Uncle Jesse 
said : 'Well, Dan, there is no use to argue with you 
from the Bible, for you say you do not believe it; now 



22 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

let us look at this matter from the standpoint of reason. 
Suppose, Dan, that you are right and we are wrong, 
we will be saved. Our religion will not cause us to be 
lost, will it ?' I said : 'No, it does you no harm, and, 
as I said, it may be a good thing for society, but not 
to save people from hell.' 'Well,' said Uncle Jesse, 
'then you admit that if you are right and there should 
be no reality in religion, we are as well of! as you and 
none the worse by our religious belief and life. But 
suppose, Dan, that we are right and you are wrong, 
then you will be lost forever. Now will you not admit 
that it is safest to be a Christian ?' 

"I said : 'Yes, that is so, Uncle Jesse ; I can't deny it.' 
"After I left Uncle Jesse I could not keep his argu- 
ment out of my mind. I didn't know how to meet it. 
Shortly after this a little Sunday-school tot was at our 
house, and she came up to me and said: 'Dan, what 
is an infidel?' As I looked down at this sweet little 
girl, so tender and beautiful, it seemed to me that if 
ever there was an angel on earth, she was one. I said : 
'Darling, what makes you ask me such questions as 
that?' She replied: 'My Sunday-school teacher says 
you are an infidel; why don't you love Jesus, Dan?' 
These words, 'why don't you love Jesus, Dan,' pene- 
trated my heart and I could not get rid of them. 
Wherever I went they were ringing in my ears. I could 
think of nothing else. My heart became so sad and 
my refuge of skeptical doctrines seemed to be all swept 
away. I felt that I was lost unless I could find pardon 
and peace at once. I went to church that night and 
was one of the first to go to the altar of prayer. It 
was humiliating to me to do it, for all the people knew 
how I had made fun of the altar service, but it seemed 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 23 

that I must have salvation or die, and I believed that 
was the best place to find Christ. 

"When I made a full surrender to Christ I was not 
long finding peace. And oh, such peace and joy as I 
found in that happy hour. It was a glorious moment 
to my soul. I never expected such happiness as I then 
received. It seemed almost everybody was happy that 
night. You better believe Uncle Jesse got on the 
'high horse' when he saw that I was converted, and 
well he might, for his argument was one of the great 
means of causing me to turn from my sins. Young 
man, I advise you never to look back. I saw the devil 
tempting you to doubt the reality of religion, and I 
came to your rescue. Press right on to Emmanuel's 
land, and whatever you do, never fail to take the Bible 
as your rule of faith and practice." 



CHAPTER III. 

As I again entered the road to Emmanuel's land I 
began to weep bitterly, for I felt that I was a great 
sinner. The devil turned to me and said : "Look here, 
there is no use for you to be so troubled about your 
sins. God is good, he is your loving Heavenly Father. 
He will never see his children punished. He so loved 
the world that he gave his Son to die for sinners, and 
if he would give his Son to die for you, he will not 
shut you up in hell because of your sins. God wants to 
save everybody and he is omnipotent and will do it." 

I had never heard the matter presented in that way 
before, and I began to wonder if that was not so. I 
studied over it a great deal, and almost made up my 
mind to give up seeking religion, thinking I could be 
saved without it. Finally I thought I had better look 
and see what my Bible said about it. When I opened 
it I read : "For God so loved the world that he gave 
his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him 
should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 
III, 16). "The wicked shall be turned into hell and 
all nations that forget God." (Psa. IX, 17.) 

24 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 25 

After reading this and much more of the same im- 
port, I said to Satan, "You are mistaken, everybody is 
not saved, this books says, 'the wicked shall be turned 
into hell.' It also says that those who believe in Him 
will be saved and those who do not believe shall be 
damned. That does not look like everybody would be 
saved whether religious or not." 

I had scarcely uttered these words when I looked to 
the right and behold there came little Billy Bonham, 
who used to go by the name of "Bad Billy." I was 
greatly surprised to see him. He rushed up to me ex- 
claiming, "Brother pilgrim, this is dangerous ground. 
Here is where thousands of pilgrims are turned back to 
perdition by the devil making them believe there is no 
need of getting religion, for everybody will be saved. 
I tell you this universalism is a dangerous doctrine. 
I came to tell you my experience in this place, thinking 
possibly it might help you. 

"One of my greatest mistakes was that of supposing 
that conversion was not necessary. I was a little bit 
wild when I was a little fellow, and I got it honestly, 
for my father was not much better. He said he sowed 
his wild oats when he was young, and he did not much 
blame the boys for wanting to have their fun. I did not 
think people ought to blame me if I did get my crop in 
early. They called me 'Bad Billy/ but I did not think 
I was so very bad, just a little mischievous, that was all. 

Nobody ever said anything to me about being re- 
ligious except my Sunday-school teacher. I always 
told her there wasn't any use to be converted, a fellow 
didn't need that. She told me I could not get to 
heaven without being converted. I told her she would 
see, for I generally went where I pleased. I said they 
told me I could not get into the big show, too, but I did 



26 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

all the same, and I did not get a ticket either. When 
the State fair came here they told me I could not get 
into it, but I showed them. I got in every day and did 
not want any of their tickets either. I said, 'You folks 
may need a ticket to get into heaven, but I'll take my 
chances of getting in without one.' 

" 'But,' said my teacher, 'you don't think you can 
climb over the walls of heaven, do you, Billy? You 
will find them a great deal higher and stronger than 
the fairground fence.' 'Well/"*! said, 'there will have to 
be bigger walls and bigger policemen than I ever saw or 
I'll get in some way. Won't they have to open the 
gate to let you and Aunt Sallie, Uncle Jake, Tom 
Park, and a whole lot of other folk in ? I guess if they 
do, I will just slip in too. If I once set my feet inside 
of that City park you may rest assured they will never 
get me out again. They tried that at the State fair, but 
I didn't go a little bit.' 

"When I said that, my teacher looked a little sur- 
prised, and said, 'Billy, I am afraid you will not have 
your own way in the other world as much as you have 
in this. You better give your heart to Jesus and get 
converted and then you won't have to sneak into heaven 
and hide after you get there.' 

"I said, 'Well, teacher, it looks like you ought to 
know, but as for my part, I can't see any need of con- 
version anyway/ 

" 'Well, Billy,' said my teacher, 'conversion is not in- 
tended simply as a transport to heaven, but people 
need conversion to make them happy in this world. If 
there were no heavenly mansions we would need con- 
version to prepare the heart to enjoy this life. For my 
part I would still want to serve the Lord, even if I knew 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 27 

that heaven and hell were blotted out. I tell you, Billy, 
there is nothing in this world that makes people happy 
like religion. I have heard many of the best people say 
that they had enjoyed more real happiness in a few 
months of Christian life than in all the years of their 
life of sin.' 

' 'Well, teacher/ said I, 'I can't see what there is 
about conversion that can make people so awful happy.' 

" 'I'll tell you, Billy,' said my teacher. 'God sends 
His blessed spirit into the heart at conversion and it 
drives out all the sin and passion that makes men so 
miserable, and then puts in the place of that, content- 
ment, patience, love, and a whole lot of other things 
that are necessary to make people happy in this life as 
well as to prepare them for heaven.' 

"I said, 'Well, teacher, I may be mistaken, but I 
think that if Grandpa Williams would will me about a 
half million it would go a long ways farther toward 
making me happy than conversion.' 

" 'That is just the mistake that lots of people are 
making,' said my teacher. 'People too generally think 
that riches are all that is necessary to make them happy, 
but we Christians have found out that happiness does 
not come so much from external surroundings of 
wealth and splendor as it does from internal conditions 
of the heart such as conversion alone can give. If this 
world would try half as hard to find happiness in holy 
living, as they do in getting riches, this world would 
become a paradise compared with what is is now. 
There is another thing that conversion does for us, it 
prepares us for usefulness. I believe the grandest am- 
bition of young people is that of being useful and help- 
ing others.' 



28 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

"I said, 'Well, teacher, I hope you don't think that 
fellows like us could do anything if we had a bushel 
of religion.' 

" 'Well/ she said, 'we can't tell what you may do 
yet before you die. I have seen little children when 
filled with converting power speak for Christ and plead 
with men with almost angelic eloquence. They often 
reach hardened sinners when older people, and even the 
preachers, have failed. I would not be surprised if God 
would make great preachers out of some of you boys 
yet. If you ever want to be useful and do great good 
you will find that the power of the Holy Ghost in your 
hearts is a secret battery of power that will be felt far 
and near. If you get a good clear conversion it will be 
a greater help to usefulness than all possible education, 
training and oratory. I want you boys all to remember 
that religion is not intended to make you long-faced 
and sad, but it will make you bright, happy and useful 
in this world, and prepare you for the world to come. 
You know Christ says, "Except ye be converted and 
become as little children, ye shall not enter into the 
kingdom of heaven." ' 

" 'Well, teacher,' said I, 'if I can't get into heaven 
without conversion, I would like to know the reason.' 

" 'Well,' said the teacher, 'there are a good many 
reasons, one thing is sure, Billy, if you continue as you 
are going the devil will soon have such a grip on you 
that he will never let you get in sight of the pearly 
gates.' 

"I said, 'Well, I don't see what God made such a law 
for anyway. I think he might just as well have made 
heaven "free for all." I don't see what he wants to 
shut out a whole lot of fellows for, just because they 
like to have fun and don't go to church.' 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 29 

" Til tell you,' said the teacher, 'why God will not 
permit unconverted people to enter heaven. There may 
be many other reasons, but one very good reason is be- 
cause they are unfit for heaven, and could not be happy 
in heaven. You boys are like a good many other people 
I have seen, they seem to think God will not let sinners 
into heaven simply because He is the supreme Law- 
giver and has power to make such a law. They seem 
to think that God arbitrarily declares such an edict 
without any good reason for it. God never gives us 
any law without good reasons, and there are good rea- 
sons why the wicked should not enter heaven. If there 
were no other reasons, the fact that man is unfit for 
heaven without conversion would be sufficient. Some 
people have strange ideas of heaven, all they think there 
is between the vilest sinner and eternal happiness is the 
golden gate of paradise. They think if the sinner could 
be so fortunate as to find that gate ajar, and get inside, 
he would be prepared to strike out through the golden 
street praising God forever. They seem to think the 
drunkard could drop his jug, snatch a golden harp, 
and make music to beat angel beings. If he could make 
music at all it would be strange music, indeed, to the 
heavenly host. We do not believe if God were to 
throw open the gates of heaven, letting sinners in, they 
would be at home there. They would not like that kind 
of society. They do not like the society of the good 
here, and why should they like it there. Death could 
have made no change in them. It has no refining or 
cleansing power. "Death is but a little ferry boat" that 
transfers them from this shore to the shores of eternity. 
As it takes men from this, so it lands them on the other. 
A ship bringing an Englishman to America does not 
make him an American, he is an Englishman still. So 



30 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

it would be with a sinner, if transferred to heaven, he 
would be a sinner still, with all his sinful desires, 
tastes and habits. 

" 'You know, boys, that you don't like the company 
of very religious people. There is not one of you who 
will stay where preachers are ten minutes if you can 
get away sooner. Don't you remember it was only last 
Sunday afternoon that you were all gathered under the 
big elm, having a good time, but when you saw cur 
pastor coming toward you all of you scattered like a 
flock of quails do when Bob Nimrod comes near them. 
What would you do if some morning you should wake 
up in heaven and meet ten thousand preachers coming 
sweeping down the golden streets, singing, "Glory! 
Glory! Hallelujah!" Don't you think you would all 
leap over the battlements of heaven to get out of their 
way. Sinners do not relish Christian worship here, and 
how could they in heaven. You know you boys are 
always fussing about the prayers being too long, and 
the songs too tedious, and you declare you believe they 
never will get ready to dismiss. In times of a revival 
you all make a terrible fuss if some good sister gets to 
shouting. The meetings often get too warm for you, 
and you all have to get out. Billy, have you forgotten 
the time that Jim Alsop, Tom Burnett, Susan Linsey, 
May Ingrain and a lot of other young people were 
converted and raised such a shout. You could not get 
away from them any other way, so you leaped out at 
the open window. What would you do if you get to 
heaven, where they worship God continually, and 
where saints and angels unite in shouting the praises 
of God. I tell you, boys, there is going to be lots of 
shouting in heaven, and if you expect to go there you 
better learn to like it here, and you never will until you 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 31 

are converted. I can't see anything in heaven that 
sinners would like. Many of them would prefer the 
company of those wicked drunken people who live 
around "Hell's Half Acre" than the company of saints 
and angels. They would sooner sit on a beer keg than 
a golden throne, and prefer a bottle to a golden harp.' 

"I said, 'Well, teacher, 'they say there is lots of gold 
there and I guess I would enjoy that.' 

' 'Well,' said the teacher, "if it were real gold per- 
haps you would, but I fear you would wear yourself 
out trying to dig it up and carry it away. I tell you, 
boys, "heaven is a prepared place for a prepared peo- 
ple," and if you are not converted you never can be 
happy there.' 

"Us boys all put on a 'bold front/ but I tell you we 
never forgot that little conversation about conversion. 
We were every one converted in less than three months 
and our teacher was well nigh as happy over it as she 
will ever get in heaven. I tell you, brother pilgrim, I 
found my teacher was right. No man can get to glory 
without being born again, and you do not want to let 
the devil turn you aside here, as he did me and thou- 
sands of others." 

I said, "No, brother pilgrim, I shall never stop until 
I am converted and have that- blessed experience you 
possess." I then started on my way, weeping over my 
sins. When the devil saw that I was still weeping over 
my sins, he turned to me and kindly asked me why I 
should weep when on the road to glory. He said that 
he had seen so many people doing that and he thought 
it very strange. 

I told him I had a mountain load of sin and it did 
not seem possible to take one step heavenward until T 
got rid of it. 



32 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

He spoke to me in a kind and flattering manner, de- 
claring that was all foolishness, and that I was no sin- 
ner. He said I had never done any horrible things 
like some people, but I had always been honest and 
moral. I had lived better than the church people did. 

I felt greatly flattered and thought more than likely 
he was right about it. I said, "Yes, I know I am better 
than some who make such loud professions." For a 
while I quit seeking religion, congratulated myself on 
my goodness, and tried to make myself believe I did not 
need a change of heart. 

The devil kept saying: "You are good enough, in- 
deed you are. You are better than many people in the 
church who go weeping around making such a fuss 
over religion. Just compare your past life with that of 
the church members and you will find it is so." 

I was restless, unhappy, and felt that I must have 
some experience that I did not yet enjoy. I went to my 
Bible for comfort, and it gave me none. I saw myself 
a great sinner. I read, "They measuring themselves 
by themselves, and comparing themselves among them- 
selves, are not wise." (2 Cor. X, 12.) At this time I 
met Mr. Goodenough, from whom I hoped to receive 
great comfort, for I had often heard him boast that he 
made no profession of religion, he was good enough 
without it. What was my surprise when I found that 
Mr. Goodenough had changed his mind and professed 
religion. He told me his experience in these words: 
"When I was quite young I came to the conclusion that 
I was about as good as anybody, and I was a good 
while changing my mind. I used to compare myself 
with members of the church, and boast that I was bet- 
ter than those who made such a loud profession. I 
said if they got to heaven I would not be far behind. 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 33 

"One day the 'Deacon' heard me, and he said : 'My 
young friend Goodenough, it affords me great pleasure 
to meet one person who is good enough. I have heard 
the lament of Christians that they were unworthy, so 
long, that it is refreshing to find one who has attained 
his full satisfaction of goodness. Now I want you to 
go with me over to my church and if you can stand the 
test, and are as good as you claim, I will give you a 
job helping me to evangelize the world.' 

"I said, 'All right, Deacon, I think I will compare 
nicely with the members of your church. I went along 
and promptly took my stand by the side of little Jimmy 
Backslider, whom I had long known as a winter Chris- 
tian. He would get happy and shout all through the 
meetings in winter, and then he would cool off, absent 
himself from the church, and gamble all summer. I 
said, 'See here, Deacon, what do you think of this. This 
man gambles on the sly, talks about his neighbors, 
drinks beer, and don't pay his debts, and you know I 
don't do anything of that kind, and I don't make no 
loud profession like he does either/ 

' 'Hold on, friend Goodenough,' said the Deacon, 
'you have got hold of the wrong man. You are ad- 
mitted to be one of the best men of the world in this 
county, and you should stand up by one of the best 
members of my church if you wish to make a fair com- 
parison. Come now, stand up here by Brother Noble- 
man, who is one of my best members. He is honest, 
strictly moral and deeply pious. If you will compare 
your virtues with his, you will admit that you can not 
near chin up to his standard of goodness. You have 
been making the mistake most generally made by 
worldly people when comparing themselves with Chris- 
tians. They always take the best man out of the church 



34 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

and compare him with the poorest little dwarf of a 
Christian they can find, and then splatter around and 
crow over their superiority. If they want to exhibit 
the stumbling, worldly, dwarf Christians, let them also 
select the poorest, miserable, depraved and wretched 
men they can find out of the church and compare him 
with the poorest specimen of Christianity that the 
church produces. The church will never suffer by such 
comparisons if they are fairly made. 

" 'But, my young friend, suppose you are as honest, 
moral and upright as any member of my church, that 
is no evidence that you would be saved unless you were 
converted and trusting in the merits of Christ. • I have 
not one member who will be saved because he is honest, 
moral and upright. That does not make them Chris- 
tians, but these things are the fruits of Christianity. If 
my members were to trust in their honesty and morality 
for salvation they would all be lost. In addition to 
these things, they must have faith in Christ's blood, 
and it cleanses their sins which, otherwise, would sink 
them to hell. 

" T find, Mr. Goodenough, you are making another 
still greater mistake when you compare yourself with 
other Christians instead of Christ Jesus himself. 
Christ is the standard of goodness and we should fol- 
low others only as they follow Christ. Place your life 
along by the side of that of the blessed Jesus, and see 
whether you are good enough or not.' 

"I said, 'Well, Deacon, I think I will stand as good 
a show as some of your members anyway.' 

"In reply to that he turned, gave me a solemn look, 
and said, 'Friend Goodenough, suppose you were as 
honest and upright as them, there is this difference, 
they are trusting in the blood of Christ to blot out their 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 35 

sins and cover their imperfections, and you are not. 
That is the reason you will be lost and they will be 
saved.' 

"I saw that was so and I couldn't have the heart to 
say another word. That very night I went to the 
Christian Endeavor meeting held by the young people, 
and made a start in Christian life. I tell you, brother 
pilgrim, that is the only safe thing to do." 

When Mr. Goodenough was through I saw that I 
had made a great mistake. I began to look out again 
for the highway to glory, and behold, I was entirely out 
of the way that leads to Emmanuel's land. I found 
myself beyond the border of the plains of sin, and in 
about as hard a crowd as is often seen. There were 
around me a whole lot of people whom the devil had 
fooled by his unfair comparisons with Christians and 
had caused to turn from the highway of holiness. Part 
of these people had given up all desire to become Chris- 
tians, they flattered themselves that they were as good 
as church members, yet they were indulging in all kinds 
of sinful practices. I said I must get out of this crowd 
if I ever got to glory, but somehow they had an in- 
fluence over me that made it almost impossible to get 
away from them and again start for the celestial clime. 



CHAPTER IV. 

"Well/' said the devil, "I don't blame you for want- 
ing to go to glory, for, indeed, I never saw a man who 
did not want to go there, but you do not need to be in 
such a hurry, there is plenty of time yet. You are 
young yet, and had just as well have a good time first. 
There is no use to give up all your fun and pleasure 
yet. Don't you know you will have to be long-faced 
and solemn all the time after you join the church? 
There will be no more pleasure or happiness for you. 
If you only have a few hours at the end of life that is 
all you will need to get to glory all right, and then you 
can be as happy as any of them." 

Yes, said I, that is one of your old tricks, that is the 
way you fooled my schoolmate, but when he came to 
die he had no time to repent and he sunk down into the 
embrace of death, exclaiming: "Lost! lost! forever 
lost!" If I knew I could get to heaven that way I 
should not want to be so mean and contemptible as to 
spend all my life in your service and then throw the 
worthless tag-end of my life down at Jesus' feet and 
ask him to open the gate of glory for me. If he did so, 

3 6 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 37 

I do not see how I could ever hold up my head before 
Christ's faithful servants, who had given their whole 
lives to his service. It seems to me that I had ought 
to be ashamed of myself that I should want to sneak off 
in some obscure corner of the glory world and never 
show myself again. So far as having fun is concerned 
I want to have a higher purpose in life than that of 
living for fun. There are too many of that kind of 
people, and if I can not find a nobler purpose in life 
than that I do not deserve to live at all. As to pleasure 
and happiness in life, I am very sure that religion, in- 
stead of destroying that, will greatly increase it. You 
have fooled a good many by making them believe that 
religion made people sad and gloomy, but it seems to 
me that the days for such nonsense are past. Some of 
the brightest and happiest young people I know are 
those who are in the service of Christ. I would give 
anything in the world if I could have such joy and hap- 
piness as some of them have. I believe, all things 
equal, the Christian is the happiest man on earth, but I 
do not propose to serve God simply to be happy, but for 
the noble purpose of glorifying my God. 

"That," said the devil, "is all right to serve the Lord 
when you are older, then you will know what you are 
doing. If you start now you may afterwards regret 
it." 

Just then "Little Joe," a fellow pilgrim, appeared at 
my side and said, "Don't you believe that, it is a trick of 
the devil. I started to glory when not nearly so old as 
you, and I have never regretted it. You are a young 
man, I was but a child, and if I could get religion all 
right, I know you can. 

"I cannot remember the time that I did not feel that 
it was my duty to give my heart to Jesus, and my life 



38 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

to his service. But my great mistake was in supposing 
I was too little to be a Christian. Father and mother 
declared I was and said they did not want me to join 
the church until I was big enough to know what I was 
doing, for if I did I might be sorry of it afterwards. 

"That was the way everybody talked, and you know 
boys think what everybody says must be true. Papa 
was down on those Laplanders who, when they went to 
church, tied their little children to boards and stood 
them against trees out in the cold while they who were 
older went in the warm church to worship God. But 
he could not see that he was doing very much the same 
thing in forbidding me to have a home in the church 
with him. 

"My greatest temptation to be bad was when papa 
and mamma went to church and left me alone. I al- 
ways had a kind of hankering for the big sugar barrel, 
the sweet-cake box and the preserve jar, so, when they 
were all gone, it seemed that I couldn't keep out of 
them. It's hard telling what meanness I would have 
got into if they had not given up for me to join the 
church and be a Christian. I did not do so until I was 
six years old. I was going to my first school, which 
was taught by the 'Deacon.' You have heard of the 
'Deacon.' I tell you us boys thought a mighty sight 
of him. 

"We were going home from school one day when 
he said to me, 'Well, my little friend, have you ever 
given your heart to Jesus?' I said, 'No, I'm too little.' 
He said, 'No, my little man, you are not too little. I 
have seen children younger than you gloriously con- 
verted and shouting the praises of God; Jesus said: 
"Suffer little children and forbid them not to come unto 
me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." ; 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 39 

"He went on to talk so nice, saying that if I was old 
enough to know that I was a sinner I was old enough 
to be a saint. I promised him if papa would let me I 
would go to the revival and see if I could get religion. 
Well, father still claimed that I was too young to be- 
long to the church, I must wait until I knew what I 
was doing. He was set in his way of thinking, and I 
could not move him until, as. Ave were walking out 
through the pasture, we saw a lamb that was lost from 
its mother and was bleating around most pitifully. 
Father said, 'Son, take that lamb and put it with its 
mother in the sheep-fold.' 

"I said, 'No, papa, let's not do that, let's leave it here 
until it's older and has sense enough to know what it is 
doing.' Papa took the object lesson right away and 
saw that he was thus keeping his little lamb out of the 
fold of Christ, and he said, 'Well, son, take the poor 
little lamb into the sheep-fold, and go and join the 
church if you want to.' 

"I went to church that night and went forward to the 
altar of prayer. I was not there but a little while until 
God for Christ's sake spoke peace to my soul, and I 
was made very happy. Before I knew it I was shout- 
ing the praises of God and running all over the house 
shaking hands with the people. I soon learned to pray 
and speak in public, and hold family prayer when 
father was absent from home. I have been working 
in the young people's society ever since. I am happy 
in my Christian life and work and have always been 
so glad that I found out it was a mistake to suppose 
children were too little to be Christians. You had just 
as well say they are too little too eat. 

"You ask my father and mother now if they think 
children are too little to be Christians, and see what 



40 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

they will say. They have got their eyes opened on this 
subject, since they have seen the work of the young 
people's societies and the help the children and young 
people are to the church. They have given up that old 
fogy notion. Besides they have seen some of the bad 
fruits of such belief as they formerly had. They got 
a lesson from the Smith girls. When they were young 
they started to go to the altar to get religion and their 
mother stood between them and the altar and would 
not let them go. The preacher tried to get her to con- 
sent to let them seek Christ, but she said, 'No, they 
were too young, they did not know what they were 
doing,' and she stood as firm as a post. 

"The preacher told her the time might come that she 
would want them to be religious, and they would not 
be willing to seek Christ. That time came and one of 
these girls filled the grave of a suicide in early life and 
the other had no inclination to be religious after she 
was grown. 

"No, brother pilgrim, you are not too young to start 
to glory, do not let the devil deceive you that way. It 
is far better every way to start now and consecrate 
your early manhood to the service of Christ. The 
scripture says : 'Remember now thy Creator in the 
days of thy youth.' " 

"Well," said the devil, "that is an important matter, 
but you better not act hastily, for you may regret it 
when you are older. You had as well have a good time 
yet a while and not go around looking sad and solemn, 
with a long face like Christians do. People should not 
expect to put old men's heads on young men. Let 
them have fun and be merry, for they will have plenty 
of time to be sad and gloomy when they are older." 

When the devil said that, it set me to thinking. I 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 41 

had seen a good many sad Christians and they were al- 
ways repulsive to me. It seemed to me that it would 
be a dreadful thing to become gloomy and long-faced 
like some I had known, and I was greatly tempted to 
turn back to the plains of sin and wait until I was older 
before beginning a Christian life. 

Just as I was in the act of yielding to the temptation 
of Satan, I chanced to look up, and I saw a fair maid 
approaching from the direction of holiness mountains. 
As she drew nigh I saw she was one whom I had 
known quite well in former years. Indeed we had 
spent many of the happy hours of childhood together. 
She had always been of a quiet disposition and a sad 
countenance, and for that reason she was familiarly 
known as "Sober Sallie." As she drew nigh she threw 
up both hands and exclaimed: "Young man! young 
man ! beware of the temptation of Satan. This is the 
place in the pilgrimage where thousands are led to turn 
their faces from mount holiness and go back to the 
plains of sin. I have passed along here and know the 
temptations that are now before you. I know Satan 
would make you believe that religion makes one sad 
and gloomy, but I know by experience that it is not so. 
It has had the very opposite effect on me, and it will do 
the same for you. My greatest mistake was that of 
supposing that religion made people gloomy and sad. 
My idea of sanctity was that one should have a long 
face, a solemn look and a sober demeanor. For one to 
smile or show any kind of gayety at church was to my 
mind evidence of a want of piety. If sadness and 
solemnity were evidence of piety I am quite sure I 
should have merited a high seat in heaven, for I 
scarcely ever was known to smile. I think those solemn 
views of Christian life come from early associations 



42 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

with Deacon Hobbs, Elder Skites, Aunt Lizzie, Uncle 
Sol and Grandpa Ross. They were always telling in 
meeting about their awful crosses, fiery trials and 
great tribulations, and seldom about their peace and 
joy. It was very natural that I should get from their 
testimonies a very gloomy idea of religion. If we 
young people had dared to smile or look happy in 
church we might expect Deacon Hobbs or Elder Skites 
to go for us at once, and then, when we got home, 
mother would have sobered us up in a way we would 
not soon forget. 

"To tell the truth, I never saw people laugh and 
appear happy in church until I went to that revival held 
by the 'Deacon.' That beat anything I had ever seen. 
The people didn't seem to think it was any harm to be 
cheerful and laugh right out loud in meeting. Even 
the old people, as well as the young converts, did that. 
There was 'Laughing Joe,' an old brother more than 
sixty years old, who laughed like a child. And brother 
Jimmie Volentine, when he should have shouted he 
just sat and laughed. Nobody seemed to object to 
these old brothers laughing in church, for everybody 
had the greatest confidence in them. Some seemed to 
think that if God had not given Brother Joe laughing 
religion he might have gone crazy, for he was naturally 
a despondent man. He was a big farmer and said to 
be worth fifty thousand dollars, but he was always 
worrying lest some calamity would come upon him, 
and he would, after all, die in the poorhouse. God 
gave him a bright and happy religious experience 
which counteracted this natural tendency to despond- 
ency. The night Irish Tom was converted and went 
all through the house yelling 'Hurrah for King Jesus !' 
it seemed to me that everybody in the house, both saint 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 43 

and sinner, were laughing. The preacher like to have 
never got them still to make announcements and close 
the meeting. He would say, 'Now brothers and sisters, 
it's getting late, we must close the services, let us have 
it quiet.' They would all quiet down but Brother Jim- 
mie Volentine and 'Laughing Joe.' They had got a 
going and couldn't stop. The preacher would say, 
'Come, brothers, we must have order, and they would 
try to hold in their surplus emotion a little while, but 
before the announcements were made Brother Jimmie 
burst out in a flame of glory and exclaimed, T can't be 
still ; I will shout.' Then Irish Tom raised his hand, 
swinging it over his head, and exclaimed again, 'Hur- 
rah for King Jesus.' 'Laughing Joe' fell in here to add 
his part to the chorus, and it was not two minutes until 
everybody in the house was either shouting or laugh- 
ing. Even the 'Deacon' laughed like he was a school- 
boy out on the playground. I did not blame him, for 
no doubt he was happy to see the good work going on. 
I tell you that meeting cured me of being sad and look- 
ing long-faced. Before I hardly knew it Sober Sallie 
was so blessed that she became Laughing Sallie. And 
I am not ashamed to tell you that I have been trying to 
be bright and happy ever since. I want to carry sun- 
shine wherever I go. I now believe that the most effi- 
cient Christian life is the one that has the most sun- 
shine in it. 

"A little girl was once eating her breakfast, when a 
ray of sunshine fell upon her silver spoon, and she ex- 
claimed, 'O, mamma, I swallowed a spoonful of sun- 
shine.' There arc some Christians who would be 
alarmed if they would happen to swallow a spoonful of 
sunshine. They seem to think it might poison them. 



44 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

It is a great mistake, what we want is more sunshine in 
Christian life, making us always cheerful and happy. 

"I do not think that a Christian girl should always 
be tittering and giggling, nor should a Christian boy 
always have his mouth spread from ear to ear like an 
idiot, but let them always be bright and cheerful, and 
a good hearty laugh on proper occasions will be good 
for their spiritual and physical health and development. 

"You must not think for a moment, brother pilgrim, 
that you cannot enjoy life and be religious. Religion 
implants the essential elements of true happiness, *and 
life will be all the more joyful and bright by your pos- 
session of the blessings of salvation. Press right on, 
my brother, and as you ascend the mount of Christian 
life you will find life grows brighter and brighter the 
higher you get above the plains of sin." 

When she had said that, I turned my face with a full 
determination toward the mount of God. It seemed to 
me that this pilgrim sister was as an angel of God sent 
to me in this dark hour of temptation to check me in my 
mad career. She was no longer Sober Sallie, but, by 
the refining influence of divince Grace, her sadness was 
all gone, and her youthful face was all aglow with di- 
vine joy, and her eyes sparkled with heavenly zeal. 

I had not gone far in the heavenly way when the 
devil again came to me, saying, "This is the most im- 
portant problem of your life, you had better not be too 
hasty. You had better take plenty of time and count 
the cost well." 

When he said that, I looked to my left and I saw a 
great company of pilgrims sitting on the grassy hill- 
sides under the shades of trees near the border of the 
plains of sin. As I gazed upon this scene I saw that 
there were people there of every age and condition of 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 45 

life. Some seemed intently bent on the solution of some 
great problem and never looked up. Others were 
idling away their time with the greatest indifference. 

I said to Satan, "What are those people doing?" He 
said, "They had stopped there to count the cost, as they 
did not desire to act hastily and do something they 
would regret." 

I said, "How long have those pilgrims been there; 
some of them seem quite old ?" "Well," said the devil, 
"some of them have been there many years and have 
not got this great problem solved yet." He said there 
were not so many there as there used to be, for many, 
both old and young, had died and been buried in the 
plains of sin. 

I said, "Yes, you old deceiver, this is another of 
your tricks. You persuade these pilgrims to stop to 
count the cost until they loose their souls. For my 
part I can not see that there is any cost to count. Jesus 
counted the cost and paid the price for us, and now all 
we have to do is to accept free salvation. There can be 
no risk about it and no danger whatever in immediate 
action." 

"Well," said the devil, "what if you can not hold out, 
you will disgrace yourself and the church and had bet- 
ter never have started." 

I said, "Look here, you know right well that God has 
promised us grace for every day and trial, and that no 
temptation shall overtake us but such as we shall be 
able to bear. What God promises must be true, and if 
I count the cost a thousand years I can not thereby 
get a single grain more assurance of success than I 
now have. Stopping to count the cost only makes mat- 
ters worse and adds to my guilt. It is distrusting the 



46 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

Divine promises and the first step back to the plains of 
sin." 

As I said that, I chanced to look toward that great 
company who had stopped to count the cost, and I saw 
coming to me a pilgrim sister whom I had familiarly 
known for years as Sister Cleo. As she approached me 
she said : "I come to warn you not to turn aside and 
join this company who have stopped to count the cost. 
I am sorry to tell you that I spent four long years there, 
and it's dreadful to see the thousands of souls that are 
lost by stopping to count the cost. As long as I live I 
shall warn pilgrims against this temptation of Satan. 
I came very near loosing my own soul by this deception 
of the devil. 'I want to count the cost,' was the fre- 
quent reply I made when approached on the subject of 
religion. A number of precious years were lost from 
my Christian life by counting the cost before I started. 
I said, 'This is an important matter, I do not want to 
go into it hastily and afterward regret it. I see so 
many who start in Christian life and make a failure of 
it, and I would rather never start at all than to do like 
them.' Thus reasoning, I delayed for years to give my 
heart to God. 

"Perhaps I would have been counting the cost yet if 
it had not been for Cousin Kate. One day she was at 
our house and wanted me to go to young people's meet- 
ing and join the society. I said, 'Well, cousin, I have 
not made up my mind to join the church yet. I think 
a person should not be in haste ; it's better to count the 
cost first.' She said, 'Cousin Cleo, are you never going 
to get done counting the cost. I have heard you say 
that for the last four years, and I should think you 
would have it counted by this time. I am afraid you 
are going to be like Uncle Jake when he was going to 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 47 

build a new house. He marked off the place for it and 
then stopped to count the cost, and his family never 
could get him at it, though he had plenty of money in 
the bank. Poor old soul, he died counting the cost 
and the house was never built'. The family are still in 
that old cabin. 

" 'You have got a guarantee fund in the bank of 
heaven and what is the use of fretting about your abil- 
ity to succeed in Christian life. God has pledged you 
his word that you shall not be tempted above that you 
are able to bear, but with every temptation he will make 
a way to escape. His word can not fail, it must stand 
though the heavens fall. If you wait a thousand years 
you can not have one bit more assurance of success 
than you now have. Why on earth do you want to 
wait, and wait until it is eternally too late ?' 

"I said, 'Cousin Kate, if you are so sure I can't make 
a failure of it, pray tell me what is the reason so many 
people do fail? There is Rosa Riley, Susan Hicks, 
Nora Murphy, Bud Ray, Tom Sims and a dozen others 
who started less than three years ago. They all made 
a loud profession, and now they are every one as 
wicked as Satan wants them to be. I would rather 
never start than to make a fool of myself like that. 5 

"Cousin Kate turned and gave me a look I never 
shall forget, as she said, 'Cleo, do you know the reason 
these young people failed in Christian life? Was it be- 
cause the grace of God was not sufficient? Was it 
because the devil was more powerful than God ? Were 
they tempted beyond their strength ? Did they fall in 
the path of duty with their faces zionward? No, 
Cousin Cleo, they did not. They willfully turned back 
to a life of sin. God would have kept them if they had 
not, of their own choice, turned away from his service. 



4 8 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

They were free moral agents, with power to do God's 
will, and power to turn against God, and they choose 
the latter. You know they always loved to dance and 
play cards and go to theaters and fly high generally. 
After they became religious they looked back to these 
things and preferred "the pleasures of sin for a season" 
to the salvation of their souls. Any Christian can go 
back and make a failure of Christian life, but none need 
do so. I don't think, Cousin Cleo, that there is the 
least danger of you being as fickle as them and dis- 
gracing the church as they did. 

" T hope you will not be like our neighbor boy, John 
West. Poor fellow, he waited too long counting the 
cost. He told the preacher he believed in religion and 
expected to be religious sometime, but he wanted to 
consider and count the cost, and death came suddenly 
and found him unprepared.' 

"Cousin Kate talked so nice and plead with me so ear- 
nestly I just could not refuse, and I went with her to 
the young people's meeting, and by the assistance and 
prayers of the young Christians I was led to Christ. I 
have never had any lack of Divine grace so far, and I 
have full confidence that I shall be more than conqueror 
through Christ. Whatever you do, brother pilgrim, do 
not stop here one hour to count the cost, but press right 
on 'toward the mark of the prize of your high calling 
in Christ Jesus.' " 



CHAPTER V. 

After meeting Sister Geo, I was more than ever de- 
termined to press on in the pilgrim way. 

"Well," said the devil, "you had better not start, at 
least, until you have taken time to find out which 
church is right. There are scores of churches and 
every one claims to be the best. You know nothing 
about them, and you are foolish if you unite with a 
church to afterward find you have made a mistake. 
You should wait until the churches agree among them- 
selves and all unite in one church." 

When he said that, I chanced to look toward the 
mountains and I saw near the borders of sin a great 
company of people who were engaging in all kinds of 
worldly pleasure. Some were dancing, some playing 
cards, some others were engaged in all kinds of sinful 
pursuits. 

I asked Satan who these were and he said they were 
pilgrims who like me had started to glory, but they had 
concluded to wait until the churches could agree among 
themselves, and then they were going on to the celes- 
tial land. 

49 



50 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

I said, 'Those people did not act as if they had any 
notion of starting on to glory very soon. I guess the 
fact is, you have tempted them to stop for the churches 
to agree and they have lost all interest in their soul's 
salvation. I think those people would have been much 
better off in any of the churches than where they are. 
This is another of your tricks to deceive people. You 
know right well that the churches are already agreed 
in all points essential to salvation, and it is unreason- 
able to demand that they shall see exactly alike on all 
minor points. People differ upon all other subjects, 
such as business, politics, science, literature, etc., and 
why should you demand that they agree perfectly on all 
the details of Christian life? Such a demand is un- 
reasonable and shall never prevent me going on to the 
promised land." 

When I had said that, there came to me a venerable 
pilgrim who had long been known as Father Path- 
finder. He said to me, "Young man, I have had some 
experience along this line which may help you on the 
way. I once yielded to this temptation of Satan right 
here and for a long time that was my hobby. 

"Too many churches, I can't tell which to join, was 
my favorite reply when approached on the subject of 
religion. I persisted in declaring I would never be re- 
ligious until the churches could come together in one 
grand church. They must agree among themselves be- 
fore I would join any of them. Parson Brown used to 
tell me they were already agreed upon all essential 
points of doctrine, and that I would be better off in any 
of them than where I was. He claimed it was not so 
important what church I joined, as that I live a Chris- 
tian life, and I could do that in any of them. He said 
to me frequently : The first thing you should do is to 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 51 

seek religion, and when you are converted join the 
church in which you think you will feel the most at 
home, and can do the most good.' He did not believe 
all churches ever would believe exactly alike as to the 
minor points of their doctrine. 

"I insisted that all churches must be as near alike as 
two beans before I would ever be a Christian. I said, 
'Parson, I believe all the churches can be got together 
in one church. There are a great many people in this 
country who are of the same opinion. I am quite sure 
we can find a path upon which all can walk, and I am 
going to get Elder Fairplay to call a grand convention 
of Christian workers in Libertyville for this purpose.' 
We sent out notices and gave our plans to people in all 
parts of the country. When the day came we had a 
tremendous crowd of all kinds of people, with all 
shades of belief. We had present people of almost 
every avocation and calling of life, each there to advo- 
cate his peculiar belief. These present were almost all 
laymen, as the preachers did not seem to take to the 
idea very much. 

"Elder Fairplay presided with great dignity. This 
question of unity was discussed from every possible 
standpoint for a number of days. Professor Hendricks, 
one of the leading teachers of the land, warmly advo- 
cated union of churches. He also stated that in his 
profession they had a similar trouble, the teachers were 
not agreed as to the mode of teaching, some using one 
plan and some another, so they were going to close all 
the schools until they could agree among themselves. 

"Dr. Long, one of the leading physicians of the land 
was very earnest for the union. He also said they had 
a similar trouble among the doctors. Some favored the 
old school and some the new. Some believed in small 



52 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

doses, others in larger, and they had concluded to close 
up business and give no more medicine until the doc- 
tors could get together and agree among themselves. 

"John Plowman was there, and spoke a few words as 
a representative of the country people. He said he was 
no orator, but he believed in union in church and every- 
thing else. He said they had been having no little 
trouble in his part of the country because the farmers 
were not agreed about the best way of farming. Some 
believed in sowing early, others late, some plowed shal- 
low, others deep, some planted by the moon, and others 
ridiculed such an idea. They had concluded not to do 
any more work until these questions were settled. 

"Judge Blackstone was there, and said looking at the 
unity of churches from the standpoint of a jurist, it was 
almost criminal for the churches to be divided as they 
were. He illustrated it by his own profession, saying 
that they also differed widely. One court was always 
undoing what the other did, and nobody could tell 
when a decision was going to stand, consequently they 
had closed all the courts of his district, and they would 
never be opened again until there was some means 
found to insure harmony. 

"Billy Briner, the great politician, was there, and 
said he never had much to do with churches, but it was 
perfectly clear to his mind that it would be far better 
for them all to be united. He said they had the same 
kind of trouble in his line of work, the people were 
divided. There were some Dems, some Reps, some 
Pops, and some Prohi's, and they were in for never 
calling another election or putting another man in 
office until the people got an understanding and united 
in one political party. 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 53 

"Professor Stone, the noted philosopher, was pres- 
ent, and addressed the meeting for two hours, showing 
the folly of the Christian world being so divided. He 
said he had seen enough of such diversity of opinion 
in the scientific world, as scientists were in the same 
lamentable condition. He said philosophers and scien- 
tific men had never been able to agree perfectly about 
any of the great problems of nature, and so many 
theories, all claiming to be scientific truths, confused 
and mystified the minds of the people and tended to de- 
stroy their confidence in all scientific research. There 
seemed to be but one way out of the troubles as to what 
the real teachings of science are, and that was to stop 
all study and research along these lines until the 
learned men could agree among themselves. 

"During that convention there was not a soul had a 
word to say against the possibility of uniting the 
churches, except the 'Deacon.' He said : 'Brothers, I 
am convinced that the presence of so many churches in 
the world does not come from any defect or imperfec- 
tion in religion, or the teachings of the Scripture, but 
from defects and variety of human judgment and 
human tastes. This is evident from the fact that men 
differ on every other subject, as well as on religion. 
The addresses made here have shown that men are as 
badly divided upon science, politics and the various 
avocations of life as they are on religion. The only 
way you will get humanity to see exactly alike on re- 
ligion, or any other subject, is to pulverize them and 
mold them all over in the same mold. They will then 
have the same intelligence, moral purity, tastes, preju- 
dices, etc. Then they will all be as near alike as Nim- 
rod's bullets, will not differ in opinions, and will be 
fully competent to successfully unite in one great 



54 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

church. But in the present state of humanity, I con- 
tend that a variety of churches is the best thing for the 
cause of Christ, and will hasten the salvation of the 
world. Seeing men have so great a variety of tastes 
and judgments, we must have a variety of churches 
suited to the different tastes. We all know there is no 
one church in the world that can please everybody, and 
if not other churches are necessary to reach them. 
Where one church finds it impossible to reach a class 
of persons, another church succeeds, and if it did not 
they would be lost. We do not want to unite the whole 
world in one denomination, we are accomplishing far 
more the way we are. Each denomination is a division 
of the army of Christ, fighting under local leaders who 
are all receiving their orders from the commander-in- 
chief, Christ Himself. The army of God, like earthly 
armies, can be mustered best by having such divisions 
of their forces, and their final triumph is thereby made 
more sure/ 

"After this discussion had continued for days and 
the time came to adjourn, they did not seem to be any 
nearer together than they were at first. Every fellow 
seemed to have a head of his own, and wanted to think 
for himself. Every fellow insisted that all others 
should come to his platform and accept his plan of 
union. At last some brother made a motion that they 
adjourn to meet again at the call of the trumpet on the 
morning of the millennium. That motion was carried 
by a big majority. 

"That convention spoiled my beautiful theories of 
church union. I never advocated the union of all 
churches again. I concluded to unite with one, and if I 
did not like the pasture I could easily jump over the 
sectarian fence into another pasture. But I have never 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 55 

been dissatisfied with the church with which I first cast 
my lot. Now, young man, my advice to you is to not 
lose one moment in waiting for the churches to get 
united, but go right on to Emmanuel's land, choosing 
that church that you believe will do the most to help 
you on to God." 

When Satan saw that I was bound to press my way 
on to glory he said, "Don't you know that the churches 
are full of hypocrites ? Do you want to live with hypo- 
crites all your life? Why not wait until the churches 
get rid of these hypocrites?" 

Just then old Billy Spitfire came up to us. I had 
often heard that he was a great fault-finder and croaker 
over hypocrites in the church, but to my surprise he 
said to me, "Brother pilgrim, do not listen to that old 
tempter, I know his tricks. 

"Hypocrites in the church was the stumbling block 
that kept me out of the church for a long time. I had 
no patience with professors who did not 'toe the mark.' 
Especially preachers who did not pay their store bills, 
business men who were sanctimonious on Sunday and 
would 'cheat your eyes out' on week days. Sisters who 
prayed on Sunday and back-bite their neighbors on 
Monday, and young people who shouted in winter and 
danced in summer. Everybody in Libertyville knew 
my sentiments. I could hold my own with any of 
them until I run up against Elder Fairplay, who had 
charge of the mission on the corner of Croaker avenue 
and Grumble street. My home was down on Croaker 
avenue near his church. He and I used to 'lock horns' 
frequently. One day I was twitting him in a kind of a 
friendly way about his hypocrites, and he said to me, 
'Billy, you are the best hand to run down hypocrites I 
ever saw. You find them in Croaker avenue, Grumble 



56 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

street, Thanksgiving street, Point pleasant, Holiness 
heights, and I don't know a corner of Libertyville in 
which you have not found them. Brother Nimrod says 
you have a better scent for hypocrites than his gray 
hounds have for a fox. Brother Nimrod's wife says 
she believes you will find some everywhere you go, and 
if you went to the north pole she believes you would 
find one there.' 

"I said, Tarson, how could that be, there are no per- 
sons living at the north pole ?' He smiled sweetly and 
said, 'Well, Billy, would you not be there, don't you 
see?' Another time I was talking to him he said, 'Billy, 
I agree with you that it is an awful thing that there 
are so many hypocrites in the church. There is but one 
thing that I know of that is worse, and that is the fact 
that there are more hypocrites out of the church than 
there are in it. You claim to belong to the "big 
church." Did you ever think of the fact that you really 
have more hypocrites in the "big church" of the world 
than we have in the Christian church? If you are bent 
on steering clear of hypocrites, I think you had better 
get converted and get a transfer to heaven. For there 
are lots of hypocrites where you are, there are some in 
the church, and if you go to hell you will be in a bigger 
crowd of them than ever.' 

"That same day I was running down one of his 
members, and he said to me, 'Billy, it's awful refresh- 
ing to run across such a good fellow as you. You are 
the first fellow I ever saw who was a whole lot better 
than Christ/ 

"I said, 'Parson, what do you mean ? Are you mak- 
ing sport of me?' 

"He said, 'No, indeed, I am not. I am in dead ear- 
nest. You won't go near a church because you see a 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 57 

hypocrite in it, while Christ had a hypocrite among his 
disciples and he stayed right with them to the end. If 
you had been there that last night when they were to 
celebrate the holy sacrament, and you had found the 
hypocrite Judas there, I suppose you would have 
kicked the table over, gobbled up the bread and wine 
and got out of that hypocritical crowd, setting Christ 
and the world a glortous example of how to deal with 
hypocrites/ 

"One time we were having a warm discussion about 
the imperfections of Christians, and he said, 'Bill, you 
are greatly deceived about the number of hypocrites in 
the church. The trouble with you is, you are looking 
through the devil's telescope. It's just like a pocket 
spyglass I used to have. If I looked through it one 
way the fellow before me was very close and large. 
Look the other way and he was a little bit of an insig- 
nificant fellow. I could hardly see him. So it is with 
you, when you look through the devil's telescope (the 
prejudice of sin), the man of the world appears to be 
a portly, fine fellow, and looking through the other way 
at the Christian he seems to you a dwarfy, hypocritical 
professor, and you exclaim, "Look at these detestable 
Christians, they are not as good as we people of the 
world." The fact of it is, your whole trouble begins 
by looking through the devil's telescope. Now, Billy, 
I want to tell you, if the Christians are not living right, 
the best thing for you to do is to get religion, and step 
out before them and set them an example of holy liv- 
ing. I need just such a man in my church now, and if 
you can live half as good as you demand they shall live, 
you will make a splendid bell sheep to lead my flock 
through the green pastures and beside the still waters. 
You surely are not so foolish as to think you are going 



58 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

to ride to heaven on the backs of hypocrites. There are 
too many hypocrites in the church, we frankly admit, 
but for the life of me I cannot see how that is going 
to help you out any. If you continue in sin, and go to 
hell, you will be with those hypocrites to all eternity, 
and instead of making it better for you it will make 
hell all the hotter for you/ 

"I tell you that little speech of the parson's that day 
set me to thinking. I saw that I could not go to heaven 
on the faults of others, and the only way I could see 
by which I could keep from spending eternity with 
hypocrites was to prepare for heaven. I went to the 
altar of prayer at Elder Fairplay's church and got re- 
ligion, and I went right up to Holiness Heights, and 
have been living there ever since. I hope you will not 
make the mistake I made." 



CHAPTER VI. 

When I had again started on my way, the devil came 
to me and said, "There is no reason why you should be 
so troubled about your sins, just leave them to take care 
of themselves, and go on your way to glory. What is 
the use to make such an ado over your sins, you cannot 
help them now, just go on and leave them, and do bet- 
ter in the future. Moral reformation is all there is in 
religion. The notion that you must repent and seek a 
new heart is all foolishness. Just turn over a new leaf 
and you will go right on to glory." 

That seemed to me an easy way out of my troubles, 
so I followed that suggestion for two long weeks. I 
felt no peace and I again turned to my Bible for 
guidance. I found it said : "The Spirit itself beareth 
witness with our spirit, that we are the children of 
God." (Rom. VIII., 16) ; "He that believeth on the 
Son of God hath the witness in himself." (i John V, 
10). Also many other passages did I read which fully 
convinced me that I had made a great mistake in de- 
pending on moral reformation to save me. 

Here I met Brother Jack, a fellow pilgrim who had 
been tempted to do the same way. He said : "I always 

59 



60 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

felt the necessity of being a Christian, but made the 
mistake of thinking that moral reformation was all 
there was in religion. I said, 'There is no use in mak- 
ing such an ado over religion ; this repenting, weeping, 
praying and shouting is all foolishness.' I believed in 
'right-about-face religion.' I belonged to the state 
guards, and thought the seeker of salvation should do 
just as we soldier boys did, simply right-about-face, 
live honest and moral, and 'let the past take care of the 
past.' I said what good does it do to be weeping over 
those old sins, they can't be helped now, let them go, 
and look out for the future. All went very smoothly with 
me until one day Judge Honest and Pete Dorsey came 
into the store and got to talking on the subject of re- 
ligion. The Judge said to me, 'Jack, there are some 
things about your religion I greatly admire. The 
promptness with which you as a soldier of Christ pro- 
pose to right-about-face and leave your sins is surely 
worthy of the imitation of all. That's what everyone 
must do to be a Christian. But, my dear brother, you 
have made one fatal mistake. So important is it that, 
if not corrected, it will sink your soul in eternal perdi- 
tion.' 

" 'Pray, Judge, what can that be,' said I, with no little 
self-confidence. 

" 'Well,' he said, 'when you determined to do better 
you forgot to secure the pardon of your old sins, and, 
according to your own statement, they still stand 
against you. If you could live without sin from the 
time you turned and right-about-faced, still your old 
sins would stand against you and sink your soul for- 
ever. You cannot get rid of sin by simply turning 
away from it. Repentance and faith in the blood of 
Jeses alone can blot them out.' 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 61 

" That is right, Judge. That is exactly what I be- 
lieve,' said Brother Dorsey. T used to think like Jack, 
that reformation was all that was necessary, and I 
talked a great deal about ''turning a new leaf" and, 
like him, I declared that was all that was necessary. 
But I got my eyes opened. One day Frank Enly came 
into my store and said, "Mr. Dorsey, I have come in to 
settle my account." I felt glad to see Frank for his 
bill had been due some time and I do not know but I 
might lose it. I said, "All right, Frank, your bill is 
fifty dollars." He hesitated a little, and I wondered 
why he did not pull out the money and pay it, if he was 
going to. Finally he said, "Well, I'll tell you, Mr. Dor- 
sey, I am really ashamed of myself that I have let this 
matter run so long. I am going to do better in the 
future. I haven't got the money to pay this, but I want 
to just turn over a new leaf and begin anew. I prom- 
ise you I will do better in the future." I said, "Frank, 
what do you mean; do you think you can pay your 
debts by 'turning a new leaf?' No, sir, that won't go 
here. You just settle the old score, and then it will be 
time for 'turning a new leaf.' ' As he looked at me 
with an inquisitive grin, he said, "You paid your awful 
debt of sin that way. You got rid of it by "turning a 
new leaf," surely I ought to get rid of this little debt 
in that way.' " 

"Frank might have been jesting, but it cured me of 
trying to pay debts by 'turning a new leaf,' and I went 
to God and had my sins blotted out by the blood of 
Jesus. 

"When Brother Dorsey had told his story, he turned 
to me and said, 'Jack, you will have to come to it, our 
right-about-face religion won't do, the sins must be 



62 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

pardoned and the heart must be cleansed through faith 
in Christ.' 

"I did not say much, but when they left our store I 
tell you I did a mighty sight of thinking. I was con- 
vinced that I had made a great mistake in supposing 
there was no such thing as religion. I saw that it was 
necessary to have something more than moral reforma- 
tion. I did not rest until I knew for myself that I was 
converted. I found a sweet peace and a solid comfort 
in religion such as I had never expected to enjoy. 

"I would earnestly urge you to never be satisfied 
with reformation alone, but seek the power and joy of 
regeneration." 

When Satan found he could not get me to take moral 
reformation for conversion, he suggested that I quit 
trying to seek religion and do religion. He said there 
was no such thing as religious experience, but good 
works was the whole of religion. He even went so far 
as to quote Scripture to convince me. 

That gave me no little trouble, and it was only when 
I went to the Bible for myself that I was able to dem- 
onstrate the fallacy of his arguments. 

My Bible said : "By the deeds of the law there shall 
no flesh be justified in his sight." (Rom. Ill, 20.) 
And, "If by grace, then it is no more of works." 
(Rom. XVI, 6.) And much other Scripture of the same 
import did I find. 

At this place I met Brother Do-All, a fellow pilgrim 
who had been led astray by this temptation of Satan, 
and he spent years trying to do religion instead of seek- 
ing it. He had been made to see his error and came to 
strengthen me against this temptation. 

He said: "I used to think it took a hustler to get 
to heaven. I believed in doing religion and had no 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 63 

faith whatever in feelings or experience. When people 
talked about feeling 'the love of God shed abroad in 
their hearts by the Holy Ghost that is given unto 
them/ I said there is no such- thing as feeling religion, 
that is all a humbug and a deception. I believed that 
good works was all there was in religion. 

"Perhaps I would have still believed it, had not old 
Father Willis come into our home. Father Willis was 
an old sailor who had spent all his early life on the 
high seas. He had never been married and when old 
age came it found him without a home. He used to 
'board among the scholars,' as he said, that is, he 
would go from place to place among his acquaintances 
spending a few days at each. It was always quite a 
treat to us boys to have Father Willis come and sing 
his songs of seaman's life such as, 'The Old Ship of 
Zion,' and tell his tales of hardship on the sea. 

"When he heard that I believed in doing religion, 
and knew nothing about the blessed experience that so 
comforted him in his old age, he said to me : 'My 
young friend, it seems to me you are going at this 
thing backward; you are putting the cart before the 
horse. Good works don't make Christians, but 
Christians make good works. If you undertake to 
travel to heaven backwards, you will be most likely to 
stumble and not get there. Good works are the fruits 
of Christianity and not its cause. According to your 
belief the apples would bear the trees instead of the 
trees bearing the apples. I have sailed a great deal on 
the sea, and I tell you right now, you had just as well 
try to cross the ocean in a wooden butter dish as to sail 
to heaven on good works. Good works are important 
after you have become a Christian, but they are not 
worth a farthing to make you a Christian. You must 



64 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

be made a Christian by the converting power of God, 
and not by good works. The Scripture says: "By 
grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your- 
selves it is the gift of God ; not of works lest any man 
should boast.' " 

"Father Willis had taught school some after he quit 
the life of a sailor, and he was good in figures. One 
day he took the slate from the wall, and calling me to 
him and putting down the figure five, he said: 
'What is that?' I said: 'Five.' Then he put down 
two ciphers to the left and said: 'What is it now?' 
I said : 'It is still five.' Then he put down two ciphers 
to the right of it and said : 'What is it now ?' I said : 
'Five hundred.' Then he added another cipher and 
said: 'What now?' I replied: 'Five thousand.' 
'Well,' he said, 'that figure five represents conversion, 
and the ciphers represent good works. Good works 
before conversion, like those ciphers before the five, 
count for nothing, but good works after conversion, 
like the ciphers to the right of the five, increase the 
value many times. Now,' said he, 'if you do good 
works after conversion it is pleasing to God, but to 
think that good works can convert you is a great mis- 
take. Even after conversion, the Christian is not saved 
by good works, but by faith in Christ. You never can 
work your passage to heaven. The old ship of Zion is 
fully equipped and has room for all, but all passage is 
paid by God's own Son, who is manager of these ex- 
cursions. He will admit no person on board who will 
not accept the free ticket he furnishes. There are no 
deck passengers ; they are all first-class cabin passen- 
gers. Some people are very anxious to work their 
passage, instead of taking Christ's free ticket, but they 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 65 

cannot do that, as there is no place for roustabouts on 
the old ship of Zion.' 

"By the time Father Willis got through talking 
about this old Ship of Zion, I had made up my mind 
to go with him on his excursion, and I have been on 
the good old boat ever since. I gave up all idea of 
working my way, and have accepted a free excursion 
ticket issued by the 'Captain of our Salvation,' and 
now, brother pilgrim, I come to warn you against the 
danger of relying on good works for salvation." 

I said : "No, Brother Do-All, I am determined not 
to depend upon good works to save me, but I am going 
right on until I get religion, and know I am con- 
verted. I do not want any guesswork about it ; I want 
to be saved from sin, and I want to know it." 

"Well," said the devil, "you will never know it until 
you get to glory. It is impossible for you to know it." 

Just then old Deacon Hardshell came up and said to 
me : "Young man, you are going to go crazy over re- 
ligion. You better quit this weeping over sin, for you 
can never know your sins forgiven on earth. What is 
the use to run yourself crazy over something that is 
not attainable in this world? I know by experience 
that there is nothing in experimental religion, for I 
sought it a whole year and came out just as I expected 
all the time." 

I said : "Deacon, did it ever occur to you that the 
reason you did not find salvation was because you had 
no faith?" 

Before he could answer me, an old friend I had 
known for years, "Irish Tom," appeared, to take a part 
in the discussion. "Irish Tom" was known for years to 
be a zealous Roman Catholic, and I naturally expected 
he would join in with the devil and the deacon to op- 



66 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

pose my getting religion. To my great surprise, I 
found he had been converted himself. 

As we talked he said : "The greatest mistake of my 
life was a disbelief in experimental religion. I was 
born in the Roman Catholic Church and taught to be- 
lieve that the observance of the forms and ceremonies 
of that church was all that was necessary to be saved. 
The doctrines of the church were taught me from 
childhood. My first recollection of religious teachings 
was when quite small, I was one of a large catechism 
class learning the doctrines of the church. If our 
heads were too thick to speedily commit the answers, 
a whack over the head by the priest soon aroused our 
energies and dispelled our lethargy. The first time I 
remember of the priest using the book over my head 
was one morning when a little bird got into the church 
and attracted the attention of the class. Most of the 
boys were watching the imprisoned bird in its helpless 
flight, when the righteous soul of the priest was so 
vexed that he started at one end of the class cuffing 
each pupil as he went. He did not only make a lasting 
impression on my mind, but also on my head. Had I 
but known it, that little imprisoned bird was a fit illus- 
tration of my imprisoned soul, shut in from the light 
and liberty of salvation by the prison of Catholicism. I 
grew up to hate the Protestant doctrine and despise the 
preachers. When I committed any great sin, instead of 
going to Christ, I went to the priest and made con- 
fession. I regarded the voice of the priest as the voice 
of God. After I grew up, I traveled in many parts of 
the world, saw many fine Catholic churches, and was 
proud of the wealth and splendor of my church. 

"Soon after we came to America and settled down in 
our quiet rural home, there came into our community a 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 67 

Protestant preacher, who held a revival meeting. Many 
of our neighbors attended it and professed religion; 
among whom were quite a number of young people. 
At first I did not go near the meeting, for I hated such 
preachers as I hated snakes. I kept hearing of the 
active part the young people were taking in the meet- 
ing, and I thought very strange of that, for I had 
never seen or heard of such a thing before. In our 
church the priest only spoke publicly to the people. I 
was told bashful, timid neighbor boys and girls got up 
in public and talked like preachers. There was John 
and Jim Kessick, two ignorant farmer boys, too bash- 
ful to hold up their heads when a neighbor came to 
see them. I was told that in church they were bold as 
a lion, and went all over the church urging people to 
go to the altar. There was long, lank John Robb in his 
blue jeans clothes, who had always been too bashful to 
face anybody; I heard he got up in public and talked 
like a bishop. All the neighbors said he surely would 
make a preacher. There was Sallie Long and Betty 
Nelson, two girls, formerly very timid; they said they 
were not now afraid of anybody, but talked in public 
almost like a Frances Willard. I knew all these young 
people well, and could not see how it could be possible 
that such reports were true. I determined to go to 
meeting and see for myself. 

"I went early on Sunday morning, that I might be 
sure of getting a scat, for the house was always 
crowded. To say that I was amazed but feebly ex- 
presses it ; I was astonished beyond expression at what 
I saw and heard. Not only was all that I heard about 
the boldness of the young people in Christian work 
true, but they all claimed to have gone directly to 



68 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

Christ, and made confession and got pardon without 
the priest. 

"Their beautiful testimonies and joyful countenances 
convinced me that all they claimed was true. I had 
never seen anything like that before. When I got in 
trouble over my sins I had always gone to the priest 
and paid him well to get me out of trouble, but these 
young people went to Christ and made confession, and 
got forgiveness without money and without price. Be- 
sides I saw that they had a joyful experience that I 
had never had. 

"I went from that service with a sense of my sins 
I had never had before. I saw that I had made a 
great mistake. I had the forms of Godliness without 
the power. I was carrying a mountain load of sin, 
and saw for the first time that no priest but Christ, the 
great high priest, could save me from eternal death. 

"I could not stay away from the revival, and went 
again to the evening service. While the preacher was 
calling for seekers I fell to the floor in great agony of 
soul, and began to pray aloud for mercy. I was soon 
gloriously converted. I did not need any preacher or 
priest to tell me when my sins were forgiven. I had 
the blessed witness of God's Spirit in my own heart. 
I could not be still ; I wanted to tell the whole world. 

"I had been in many grand cathedrals, but that old 
house was more bright and glorious than any church 
I ever was in. A halo of glory seemed to fill the room, 
and I felt that I never wanted to get out of sight of 
that glorious place where Christ came to my soul in the 
pardon of sin. I would entreat you, fellow pilgrim, to 
never stop until you have the witness of the Spirit 
that you are a child of God." 



CHAPTER VII. 

One day the devil came to me and said: "Why 
don't you go to the priest or the preacher for conver- 
sion? They could get you out of your trouble about 
your sins." 

I thought I would do that, and was just ready to 
start, when I met old Brother Reformer. He told me 
if I wanted to consult the preacher, to get his advice 
as to how to be saved, good and well, but if I expected 
the preacher to convert me, I would be disappointed, 
for that was a Divine work, done only by the Holy 
Spirit. 

He said when he was a young man he was led 
astray by the devil's temptation to believe that preach- 
ers or priests could convert him. He said : "My great- 
est mistake was that of believing conversion was not 
wholly a Divine work. I had often heard preachers 
say that salvation came through the co-operation of 
human and Divine agencies. I knew that the conver- 
sion of such a fellow as I was going to be a big job, 
and I was perfectly willing to help the Lord. In fact, 
I thought I could do it about all by myself. I was like 
a great many people I know ; I preferred to do the work 

6 9 



yo THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

myself instead of making a full surrender to God, and 
letting him do it. 

"If I had just consulted my Bible a little I would 
have found there were five things God wanted me to 
do, and then he would do the rest. He wanted me to 
repent, confess, consecrate, pray and believe, then he 
would do the converting. But those were the five 
things I did not want to do, but I wanted to do God's 
part. Well, I went at the job in good earnest. First 
I changed my opinions, but I found that was not con- 
version. I changed my resolutions, but still I was un- 
converted. Then I got the garments of a Christian, 
but still I was unsaved. I learned to talk and sing like 
a Christian, yet I was no Christian at all. Well, I gave 
it up ; I said it was no use in talking, I never can make 
myself a Christian. 

"I concluded the next best thing to do would be to 
go to a preacher to do the work for me. I knew a 
good many people who went to the priest when they 
got in trouble about their sins, and they claimed that 
he did good work. But there was one trouble about 
the priest ; that was that horrible confession business ; 
I never could endure that, for there were some things 
in my life that I did not want anybody to know. 

"I heard an evangelist had come to town who 
claimed he could convert people without a bit of 
trouble. I had my doubts about it being done so easy 
as he claimed, for I was beginning to conclude that 
conversion was a more difficult work than I had ex- 
pected. I talked with Uncle Joel Brown, and he said : 
'Yes, the evangelist claimed that he could convert a 
man in fifteen minutes. He said he went down to the 
telegraph office and converted the operator in less time 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. yi 

than that, and that the young man had joined the 
church, and was doing" well/ 

"I went to church that night, and sure enough, this 
stranger was doing a 'land office business' converting 
people. He said he had been out in the country that 
afternoon, and converted a whole family at once. He 
had the pastor put all their names on the church book, 
as full-fledged Christians. He said there was no sense 
in having these altars of prayer in churches and having 
people crying over their sins. He ridiculed the idea 
that men should get religion, and feel a Christian ex- 
perience. 

"Now, I did not exactly like the way he talked, for 
I had not been raised that way, but I wanted to be con- 
verted, and I was not willing to let the Lord do it. I 
was anxious to let the evangelist try his hand on me. 
I went up and told him I was anxious to be converted. 
He never did a thing, but asked me a few questions, 
and then announced to the congregation that I had 
been converted. 

"If I had been converted, I did not know it, and I did 
not want that kind of conversion. I had seen too many 
fellows who claimed to be converted and had to have 
the preacher tell it. I did not want that kind. I 
wanted a conversion that would tell itself. I did not 
believe that the kind of religion that a fellow could not 
feel, and that nobody could discover without getting 
out a search warrant, was worth a 'row of pins/ I did 
not want a salvation that was so fine that it had to be 
put under the preacher's magnifying glass before any- 
body could see it. When the preacher announced that 
1 had been converted, I asked him when he did it. I 
expressed surprise that he should convert me, and not 
let me know a thing about it until it was all over. I 



J2 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

said : 'Are you done ? Is that all ?' 'Yes,' he said, 'the 
pastor will take your name, baptize you, and you will 
be all right; you need have no fears you will pull 
through all right.' 

"I went down to Uncle Joel's and told him what 
kind of work his evangelist was doing. 'Yes,' said 
Uncle Joel, 'I knew he was a humbug all the time. 
It's an outrage that such a man should be permitted to 
preach in a Christian land. He may cause people to 
change their opinions, but that is not Scriptural conver- 
sion. If he converts them at all, it is a very poor job ; 
perhaps about such as that of the old preacher who 
met a drunken man on the street. Staggering up to the 
preacher he said: 'Don't you know me?' 'No,' said 
the preacher, 'I do not know you.' 'Well,' said the 
drunken man, 'you ought to know me, for I am one 
of your converts.' 'Yes,' said the preacher, 'you look 
like one of my converts ; if the Lord had converted 
you, you would not be drunk.' We have too many 
men-made converts in the church ; they are converted 
in the head only, while true conversion is a work in the 
heart. Preachers who claim to convert people, need to 
be converted themselves. There is no preacher, priest, 
or pope who has power to convert a soul in the 
Scriptural sense. Yet many people think if a 
preacher takes them into church, gives them baptism 
and the sacrament, that, thereby, they are made 
Christians.' 

"I said: 'Well, Uncle Joel, he converts people with 
the tongue. I think I should prefer to be converted by 
the Holy Spirit.' 'That's right, Brother Reformer,' 
said Uncle Joel, 'God only can convert a man ; the 
sooner you give up all ideas of being saved by reforma- 
tion, or anything that men can do, the better. Conver- 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 73 

sion is wholly a Spiritual work. Christ says: "Ye 
must be born again." (Jno. Ill, 7.) Paul says: 
"Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new 
creature." (Cor. V, '7.) Again he says: "Your 
body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you." 
(1 Cor. VI, 19.) 

"I said : 'Well, Brother Joel, I would give anything 
in the world to have this question settled and be as 
happy as some people I know.' 'Well,' said Uncle Joel, 
'let us settle it at once/ and with that he fell upon his 
knees and began to pray. I thought I never heard such 
a prayer. It seemed to me that he would bring the 
very heavens down. He talked to God as if he were 
right there, and he was most intimate with him. 

"I made a full surrender, and let God do the work 
all by himself. He did it gloriously, and I have been 
happy ever since. Now I want to warn, you, Brother 
Pilgrim, against this temptation of the devil that is 
sending thousands of pilgrims to perdition." 

I said: "Well, Brother Reformer, I want an ex- 
perience like yours ; I shall not look to the priest or 
preachers for it, but shall turn my face Zionward, and 
look to God alone for conversion." 

I had not gone far when the devil came to me and 
said: "This is all foolishness to weep and pray over 
your sins. There is no conversion but baptism; go 
and be baptized and that will save you from all sins." 

I said : "I believe in baptism ; it is doubtless the or- 
dinance of God; but when I am baptized it shall be 
because I am a saint, and not because I am a sinner. I 
shall receive it as emblematic of the baptism of the 
Holy Spirit already received, and not as a substitute to 
take its place." 



74 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

Just then Brother John, a fellow pilgrim, said: 
"That is right, brother, don't do like I did. The mis- 
take I made in the beginning of Christian life was that 
of supposing baptism was conversion. My parents 
were very religious and consecrated me to God, and 
had me baptized in childhood. As I grew up I found 
myself in the church, and supposed I was a Christian 
because I had been baptized. There came to our town 
an evangelist who held a meeting in one of the other 
churches. He dwelt a great deal on baptism, claiming 
that it was the principal thing. He baptized his con- 
verts by immersion, and emphatically declared that no- 
body could be saved unless they had been immersed. 
He said there was no use in people making such a fuss 
over religion, by weeping, mourning and praying over 
their sins, but to 'be dipped and be done with it.' As 
soon as he got a convert he hastened down to the river 
and immersed him by lamplight, for he might die and 
be lost if he waited until morning. 

"Now, I never had felt exactly right about my relig- 
ious experience, and I began to wonder if that was not 
what I lacked. I talked with the evangelist and he 
said : 'Yes, that is just the thing to do. Your bap- 
tism was no good at all.; a little water sprinkled on 
your head when a baby never could wash your sins 
away. What you need is to be immersed, and then 
you will feel all right/ 

"I noticed that some of his converts shouted when 
they came up out of the water, and to my mind that was 
conclusive evidence that the baptism was what made 
them shout. If I had just stopped to think a moment, 
I would have remembered that they shouted at the 
church before they went to the water, so it must have 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 75 

been something else besides immersion that caused the 
shouting. 

"I soon got to feeling so burdened with sin that I 
concluded I must be immersed to see if it would not 
take away my sense of guilt and condemnation. I 
knew my father and mother would think it was awful 
if I left my church and joined the other church, and I 
did not want to be too hasty lest I might afterward be 
sorry for it. I concluded to have a talk with my own 
pastor. I went to the parsonage and told him I was 
not satisfied with my baptism and I wanted to be im- 
mersed, the first thing the preacher said to me was : 
'Are you a Christian, Johnnie?' I tell you that was a 
stunner; I did not hardly know how to answer that 
question. I said: 'I hope so; I have belonged to the 
church, as you know, for some time/ The next ques- 
tion was still worse for me. He said : 'When were 
you converted, Johnnie ?' I said : 'Well, I was bap- 
tized when I was a baby.' 'But/ said the preacher, 
'have you ever been converted; have you ever ex- 
perienced a change of heart?' I said : 'Well, I do not 
know as I have ever had any experience, only I have 
been baptized and belong to the church.' He said: 
'Johnnie, if you had been converted you would know 
it. You need to go to God in earnest prayer until 
you are converted, and then you will have no more 
trouble over your baptism.' I said: 'Well I know I 
shall never be satisfied until I am immersed, and I 
guess I'll have to leave our church and be baptized 
by the evangelist.' 

"The preacher was a little surprised, and said: 
'Well, if you desire to be immersed, why not let me 
immerse you; I can give you just as good an evan- 
gelistic baptism as he can. I was immersed myself, 



?6 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

not because I thought it was the only mode of baptism, 
but because I wanted to take the mode that would be 
the most sacrifice. If that evangelist will prove his 
baptismal apostolics succession down to John the Bap- 
tist, as he claims he can, I will do the same. I am very 
sure I can give you just as good a baptism as he can/ 
I said : 'All right, parson, I much prefer to have you 
do it, for I will not need to leave my church/ 

"The time and place for my baptism was soon ar- 
ranged. It was to be the next Sunday afternoon on the 
creek at Long's ford, just below the bridge. When 
the time came, a big crowd was assembled at the water 
brink. Everything was ready and I was starting into 
the water, when I remembered that I had my pocket- 
book in my pocket with considerable money in it. I 
took it out and started to hand it to my friend, Charley 
Moss. The parson said : 'Hold on, put that back.' I 
said I did not want to get it wet. He said very em- 
phatically : Tf I immerse you I want to immerse you, 
pocketbook and all.' 

"I had to put it back and I did not much blame the 
parson, for I knew he had some members in his 
church who kept their pocketbooks entirely out of 
their religion, and boasted that their religion did not 
cost them over twenty-five cents a year. I did not 
wonder that the parson thought that Scriptural baptism 
should include pocketbook and all. 

"I went down under the water and came up out of 
the water, but I did not shout, nor did I feel, in any 
particular, different from what I had felt, except I was 
very wet and chilly. I confess I was somewhat disap- 
pointed. 

"After I was immersed, I still felt the burden of sin 
the same as I had before. One day I picked up an old 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 77 

book and began to read about a great revival that was 
held a long time ago by an evangelist. A preacher 
said to a prominent convert of that revival after he had 
been baptized : 'Thy heart is not right in the sight of 
God. I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness 
and in the bonds of iniquity.' I thought it very strange 
if baptism washed away sin, that the preacher should 
so picture one of the converts as one of the vilest of 
sinners. Surely baptism had not cleansed the heart 
from sin in that case, and if it failed to do so in one 
case, it might in many others, and also in my own case. 
What made this trouble me so much was the fact that 
that old book from which I was reading was a most 
reliable book; yes, it was the Bible itself, and I read 
from the eighth chapter of Acts. Another thing that 
made my alarm still greater was the fact that though 
I had been sprinkled and immersed, still I felt that my 
heart was just like that man's, 'in the gall of bitterness 
and bonds of iniquity.' 

"In my trouble, I concluded to go and get mother's 
advice, for I had great confidence in mother, and had 
began to think that after all perhaps mother's religion 
was better than that preached by the evangelist who 
had been holding the meeting in our town. I found 
mother busy with her work, and as I sat in the kitchen 
talking to her, my little sister Nell came in with a lot 
of old bottles for her mamma to wash. They were all 
soon washed, except one, and I noticed that mother 
kept scrubbing that and plunging it under the water, 
but did not get it clean. 

"Mother said: 'Look here, Johnnie. What is the 
matter with this bottle? I can't get it clean.' I looked 
and said: 'Mother, don't you see it is stopped up, 



78 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

so water does not get inside? You never can get it 
clean inside by washing the outside.' 

"Mother, looking straight at me, said : 'Yes, John- 
nie, that is so, and that bottle is just like your heart. 
You are trying to get it pure and clean by the external 
washing of baptism, but you never can do so. You 
must open your heart to Christ, and he will cleanse it 
by his precious blood. If you will open your heart 
and let the Savior in he will make you a new creature 
in Christ Jesus, you will be converted and will have no 
more trouble about your sins.' 

"This little object lesson of mother's enabled me to 
see at once that I had made a great mistake in suppos- 
ing baptism was conversion, and I determined to seek 
Christ at once with all my heart. I went out into the 
woods, and there in the silence of the temple of nature, 
I consecrated all upon the altar of God in an everlast- 
ing covenant, and asked God to send me the witness of 
his Spirit to the pardon of sin. It was not long until 
I felt the burden of sin removed and such joy and peace 
in my soul as I had never felt before. I realized that 
I was born again, 'old things were passed away and 
behold all things were become new.' All nature 
seemed glorious, even the very trees and the singing 
birds seemed to join me in praising God. So glorious 
was my new experience that I felt that I wanted to pro- 
claim it to the whole world. 

Yes, fellow pilgrim, I shall ever be grateful to God 
that I discovered the folly of trusting in baptism for 
salvation, and I would urge you to avoid that fatal 
mistake. The devil has turned thousands of pilgrims 
from their way right here by this temptation. 

As I stood there I looked to the left, and just on 
the border of the land I saw a beautiful country in 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 79 

which were many people, young and old, who seemed 
to be enjoying life. I could see the guilded church 
spires pointing heavenward, and I concluded this must 
be a happy Christian land. So fascinated was I with 
that land, that without stopping to think what I was 
doing, I found myself running in that direction drawn 
by its irresistible charms. 

"As I drew near the pilgrims came out to meet me, 
and gave me a most cordial reception. They asked me 
if I was on my way to glory. I told them I had started 
to that land, but I had found so many difficulties and 
temptations I almost felt discouraged. They said there 
was only one thing I lacked, and that was to follow 
my Master down into the water. They were quite 
sure that water-regeneration was all that was neces- 
sary to get to heaven. If I would only be baptized, 
they said I would be as sure of heaven as if I was al- 
ready there. I told them that I was afraid that was not 
all, for the devil had advised that, and I had never yet 
found him to be right. They declared they had an 
apostolic succession back to John the Baptist, and they 
could give me a baptism that would wash away all sin. 
I said: 'Well, if you can do that I can ask for noth- 
ing better, for that will surely be an easy way to get 
to glory. But before I try that, I wish to see some 
samples of your work, and be sure that it really makes 
Christians. I saw them go down into the water and 
come up out of the water, but the only change I could 
see was the fact they went down dry sinners and came 
out wet sinners, instead of going down sinners and 
coming up saints.' 

"Then I began to look about me to see if baptism 
had saved the citizens of that country from sin. To my 
surprise I found in that beautiful land, baptized gam- 



80 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

biers, baptized drunkards, baptized infidels, and bap- 
tized people indulging in all kinds of sin, yet expecting 
to get to heaven because they were baptized. 

"I was greatly troubled and saw I had made a mis- 
take in not consulting my Bible on this subject before 
starting to that land. As I read the sacred Scriptures 
I found while Christian baptism was required of all 
God's people, it did not save from sin. 

"I said to the devil : 'See here, you and those peo- 
ple are all mistaken. Baptism does not make people 
Christians at all ; they should only be baptized to show 
they have become Christians. I read here of a man 
who was baptized by the apostle Philip, and he was still 
as wicked as he could be. I know he was, for the apostle 
Peter said to him, "Thou hast neither part nor lot 
in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of 
God; repent, therefore, of this, thy wickedness and 
pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may 
be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the 
gall of bitterness, and in the bonds of iniquity." (Acts 
VIII, 21-3.) Then this guilty Simon Magus wilted 
like a condemned culprit, and asked the preacher to 
pray for him. Yet you and these people would make 
me believe baptism regenerates, and is all that is neces- 
sary to be saved. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

"Again I started on my way, but as I began to weep 
over my sins, and pray for converting power, Satan 
appeared and suggested that there was nothing in re- 
ligion but excitement. He insisted that I should not 
allow myself to be deceived in that matter and ex- 
cited into religion. 

• "That suggestion troubled me not a little, until I met 
Brother Bob, who had been led astray by the same 
temptation. He was afterward rescued from the path 
of darkness. He declared this was one of the most 
dangerous places along the pathway of the seeker of 
salvation. He said : The great mistake of my life 
was that of pleading excitement as an excuse for not 
being religious. I claimed excitement was all there 
was in religion, and that came largely from the devil. 
As a matter of curiosity, I attended a great revival. 
Christians wasted many tears and much labor to get 
me to turn from my wicked ways, but my favorite re- 
ply was "there is too much excitement." It worked 
like a charm all but once. That time the "Deacon" 
came to me and said : "Bob, I have known you a long 
time, and I am very anxious to see you converted ; 

8] 



82 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

you say there is too much excitement in revivals ; now, 
I want you to go with me out in the woods where there 
will be no excitement, and seek religion. 

" 'I hardly knew what to say, for I knew right well 
that if he ever got me out in the woods I would never 
get away from him without being converted, so I 
politely declined to go. I got another setback when I 
ran up against Jim Hustler. Jim was a great politi- 
cian, and I tell you he was a hustler, too. He was con- 
verted at the revival at old Salem. Soon after that he 
met me, and said : "Bob, there is one thing I don't 
understand; that is, how you can object to religion be- 
cause of too much excitement, and at the same time 
stand so much excitement in politics. I do think you 
are about the noisiest fellow that I ever saw go to a 
political convention. Do you remember how much 
fuss you made in our last convention at Libertyville 
when we were nominating candidates. You swung 
your hat in the air and yelled at the top of your voice 
for more than a half hour, and then lost your hat, all 
your handkerchiefs, and it looked like you were going 
to lose your mind just because your fellow got there. 
When you go to church, if they make one-tenth that 
much noise you almost go distracted, and declare they 
are all half crazy." I said : "Jim, there is nothing to 
make a fuss over at church, like there is at a political 
meeting." ' 

"What!" said Jim. "Do you pretend to say that 
the salvation of a soul from hell fire is not as important 
as the nomination of a man for office ?" 

" 'Jim had me beat and I could make no reply. He 
went on to say : "I understand you claim that excite- 
ment at revivals is from the devil. Now, Bob, you 
know I used to be pretty bad, and the devil used to 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 83 

excite me to make a good deal of fuss, but it was a dif- 
ferent kind from that at revivals. I wanted to fight or 
swear, or tongue-lash somebody, and if the devil ex- 
cited these Christians I think they would do the same 
way instead of praying and shouting." 

"Well," said I, "if it is not the devil that excites 
them it is the preachers and the excitable workers 
around the altar. They get down and weep over the 
seekers, pray for them, exhort them, then shout all 
around them until they are almost distracted and get 
excited and worked up and they conclude they are 
converted. I know there is nothing in it but excite- 
ment." 

" 'When I said that, he turned on me and said : 
"Bob, I want you to tell me who excited Frank Nelson 
when he went out in the woods more than a mile from 
any house and knelt under a big oak tree just inside of 
Smith's pasture and prayed alone until he was con- 
verted. Who excited him so he leaped over that high 
fence and ran home shouting the praises of God at 
every step? Who excited Mrs. Kinder when she went 
out in the cornfield, and after praying for a half hour 
alone, was converted and returned to the house prais- 
ing God? Who excited Frank Olsop when he was 
converted and shouted the praises of God in the dark- 
ness of the night as he rode on horseback on the way 
from church ?" 

' T knew every one of these people well, and I 
knew there was a wonderful change in all of them. 1 
said : "Jim, I must frankly confess that there is no use 
to argue that they were excited unless they were ex- 
cited by some Divine work in their hearts. 

' 'From thai day I never had another word to say 
against excitement in religion. In less than three weeks 



84 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

I was converted, and everybody said I made a bigger 
fuss than anybody. Now, brother pilgrim, I want to 
warn you against this deception of the devil, by which 
he is keeping so many souls out of the kingdom.' ' 

"Well," said the devil, "if there is such a thing as 
conversion, one thing is sure; you can never get it 
until God's good time. You need not think that you 
can hurry the Almighty. He always takes his own 
time for doing his work, and your fretting and impa- 
tience to know that you are a Christian will but make 
matters worse. The Bible says there is a time for all 
things, and if there is a time for you to be converted, 
God has fixed that time and you cannot change it. You 
had just as well stop your weeping and be content un- 
til the Lord's good time, then he will convert you, and 
you can go on your way to glory." 

This temptation troubled me greatly until Sister 
Grace came to my rescue. She had been led astray by 
the same temptation and her experience was a great 
help to me. 

She said: "Waiting for God's good time! Yes, 
that was the great mistake of my life. I always be- 
lieved in religion, and fully expected some time to 
become a Christian, but I had some kind of a notion 
that when the Lord's good time came, I would be 
brought into his kingdom without any effort on my 
part. I guess I would have been waiting yet for God's 
good time, if I had not had the good fortune to be in- 
structed by my Aunt Fannie. 'Waiting for God's good 
time?' said Aunt Fannie. 'Good bless your dear soul, 
nozv is God's good time. Today is the day of salvation. 
If you want religion just go and get it, for today is 
the time. "Today if you hear his voice harden not your 
heart." ' 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 85 

I said: "Aunt Fannie, I always was taught that I 
could not be religious until God's good time, then he 
would come and take away my sins and make me a 
child of God." 

Aunt Fannie replied : "Do you expect God to pick 
you up like a baby and carry you into his kingdom 
without you doing anything? If you want religion 
just go to God in prayer and ask for it." 

I said: "But, Aunt Fannie, how can I know that 
my time has come?" 

She replied : "God never makes future dates for 
the conversion of a soul. His good time is, and always 
has been, today. My dear, God has been ready all 
these years to save you and has been saying: 'Come 
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I 
will give you rest.' But instead of going to Christ, you 
have been sitting with folded arms waiting for him to 
come to you. God does not want to draft people into 
his service, but he wants them to freely volunteer to 
come to him." 

I said : "Aunt Fannie, I would give anything in the 
world if I could be happy like some of the girls who 
go to young people's meetings, O how my soul does 
thirst for the water of life." 

"It seems to me," said Aunt Fannie, "that you are 
very much like some mariners I once read of who were 
almost dying for water while on a long voyage. They 
believed themselves to be in the briny waters of the 
deep, and put out the signal of distress. A vessel came 
to their rescue. They signaled for water. The reply 
came back : 'Dip it up ; you are in the mouth of the 
Amazon.' Those poor people were dying for water, 
when if they had but known it, they were in the mouth 
of the biggest river in the world, fresh water was all 



86 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

around them, and could be had without cost. So it is 
with you, Grace; you are thirsting for the water of 
life, and have been waiting for God to bring it to you, 
when, really, all you had to do was to dip it up and 
drink to the satisfaction of your soul." 

I tell you it was not long until I found, by blessed 
experience, that every word Aunt Fannie said was true. 
And now, brother pilgrim, I plead with you to again 
start in the heavenly way and never rest until you are 
soundly converted." 

I said : "No, I will not stop." When I said that I 
looked to my left and saw a great company of pil- 
grims gathering under the shady groves just on the 
border of the plains of sin. Some were young, and 
some were old, but all manifested a desire to get into 
an attitude of ease and were evidently hoping for a 
long rest. Some were stretched out full length on the 
green grass ; some sat leaning against trees with their 
arms folded across their breasts, others were fast 
asleep in hammocks swung to the trees. 

I said to the devil: "Who are these people, and 
what are they doing?" He said: "They are people 
who started on the pilgrimage to glory just a while 
before you started, but they found they were in too big 
a hurry, and now they are stopping to wait 'God's good 
time/ " 

I said : "Yes, that is some of your cunning work ; 
how can you deceive these poor pilgrims in this way? 
You know right well that if they were to stay there 
until doom's day waiting for God's good time, and be- 
lieving it was in the future, they never would be saved. 
You may fool them that way, but you can't fool me. I 
am going to seek religion and I am going to seek it at 
once." 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 87 

My conviction of sin became very great. It seemed 
to me that I could see every mean thing I ever did, 
and I was almost ready to give up in despair. I cried : 
"O, wretched man that I am ; if this load of sin is not 
taken away I shall surely die." Just then the devil 
came to me and said : " You must be a great sinner in- 
deed; no doubt you have sinned against the Holy 
Ghost, and there is no pardon for you. Don't you re- 
member that the preacher warned you against that 
very thing?" 

I felt like I was the greatest sinner in the world. 
I began to think there was no use to pray, for I had 
surely sinned against the Holy Ghost if ever a soul 
did. I quit praying, and was almost ready to give up 
in despair, when I again thought of consulting my 
Bible. I read the devil's quotation : "Verily I say 
unto you, all sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of 
men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall 
blaspheme, but he that shall blaspheme against the 
Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of 
eternal damnation." (Mark III, 29.) 

"There it is," said I. "Sure enough, the devil is 
right this time ; there is no pardon for me ; I am ex- 
posed to eternal damnation." My soul began to sink 
within me, and black despair o'ershadowed me; the 
last ray of hope was gone. 

Then the devil said: "Did I not tell you so; you 
have sinned against the Holy Ghost and are lost for- 
ever." 

I cried : "O, God, I perish," but the heavens were 
as brass above me. My Bible still lay open before me, 
and my eye caught the verse following the one the 
devil had quoted, and behold, it was the key to the 
meaning of his quotation. It showed what the sin 



88 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

against the Holy Ghost was. It showed that these 
people sinned against the Holy Ghost by affirming 
that Christ wrought his miracles by the power of an 
evil spirit, or that he cast out devils in the name of 
Belzebub, the prince of devils. I saw plainly that the 
sin against the Holy Ghost was attributing Christ's 
work to evil spirits, and I knew I had not done that, 
and consequently I had not sinned against the Holy 
Ghost. 

I said: "See, here, you are mistaken again. This 
shows that no man sins against the Holy Ghost, ex- 
cept those who attribute the miracles of Christ to evil 
spirits, and I have not done that, so I have not sinned 
against the Holy Ghost." 

"Well," said he, "God's spirit has taken his everlast- 
ing flight, and for that reason you cannot be saved. 
Don't you remember that the preacher warned you 
against grieving the Spirit of God ? He told you that He 
might take his everlasting flight, then your damnation 
would be sealed. Did he not tell you God's Spirit 
would not always strive with man?" 

I said: "I have been bad enough, God knows, but 
I know that God's spirit has not taken his flight, for if 
He had I would be given over to hardness of heart and 
reprobacy of mind, which is not the case. If He had 
taken his flight, I would have no concern about my 
sins. If the spirit was gone I could not weep over my 
sins or have any desire to seek Christ." 

"Well," said the devil, "one thing is sure ; if you are 
ever saved you will have to get a whole lot better than 
you are now. You are not fit to join the church, and 
you know that right well. In the course of years, 
after you have made yourself better, you may talk of 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 89 

joining the church, but not as you are now, for you 
are not fit to belong to the church." 

I said : "Well, I admit there is some truth in what 
you say, but you have made one mistake. If I had a 
thousand years to make myself better I could not do it. 
I have found that out a good while ago. Instead of 
getting better I have been getting worse all the time. 
True, I have power to make some outward reforma- 
tion, but the inner life gets worse and worse the longer 
I stay away from Christ. I have found that there is 
no use to try to make myself good enough to come 
to Christ and be saved, but I have got to come just as 
I am and trust in the merits of Christ, and not in my 
own merits. This is another of your well laid plans 
to keep seekers from getting salvation. You well know 
that so long as you can get them to try to make them- 
selves better and rely on their own goodness for sal- 
vation, they will never be saved. We have got to 
come to Christ just as we are and he does the work 
of purifying the heart." 

Just then, Sister Bess, an old schoolmate, appeared 
to cheer and comfort me. She had passed along this 
road and been subject to this temptation, and had 
yielded to it and tried to make herself better, but 
failed, and was rescued by a sister pilgrim. She gave 
me her experience in these words : "I loved to dance 
from the time I was big enough to talk. It was just 
naturally in me, and I could not keep my feet still one 
minute after the music began. I spent several years 
of about the gayest life of which you ever heard. I 
just lived for fun and nothing else. When the society 
of Kings Daughters was organized I attended their 
meetings, for I always would go to everything that 
came to town. I was surprised at what T saw and 



9 o THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

heard there. These young people conducted meetings 
just like a lot of preachers. I got greatly interested 
in them, and began to realize that I should have a 
nobler object and higher aim in life than simply liv- 
ing for fun. I felt that I was a great sinner. Some- 
thing seemed to say : 'Yes, you are too great a sinner. 
There is no pardon for you.' I commenced trying to 
make myself better. That was the great mistake of 
my life. If the young people asked me to join them 
I said, 'I am not fit to belong to the church ; I want to 
make myself better first.' Sister Helen Hoffman, the 
president of the young people's society, came to see me 
about joining the society. When I said I wanted to 
make myself better, she said : 'Bess, don't you know 
you can never make yourself better by staying away 
from Christ. Every hour you stay away from him 
you add to the number of your sins. The way to get 
better is to come to Jesus just as you are, and ask him 
to take away your sins and give you a new heart.' 

"I said : "Well, Helen, you don't know what a great 
sinner I have been ; it just seems to me there is a great 
mountain of sin on my heart. I am so sinful' I do not 
dare to pray for pardon. I could not think of such a 
thing until I make myself more fit to come to God/ 

" 'Well, Bess,' said Helen, T am glad you see your- 
self to be a great sinner, for that shows that God's spirit 
is working upon your heart and convicting you of sin. 
But you must not think that God. will turn you away 
because you are a great sinner. Christ died for great 
sinners just like you, and if you will trust him you 
will be saved very soon. It is the temptation of Satan 
that makes you think you dare not pray. Here is 
where he gets his fine work in. He first comes to sin- 
ners and tells them they are good enough; they don't 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 91 

need religion, just like he did Dan Goodenough. When 
God's spirit shows them that they are sinners, as he 
has you, then he comes to them and says : "Yes, you 
are a great sinner ; you have sinned so long there is no 
pardon for you; you dare not pray until you make 
yourself better." He knows right well that the sinner 
cannot make himself better, so he thinks he is sure of 
getting him. Now, Sister Bess, what you need is to 
come to Jesus just as you are, saying, 

"Nothing in my hand I bring, 
But simply to thy cross I cling." 

"If you wait to make yourself better, you will never 
come at all. 

"She urged me to go out to the young people's meet- 
ing that night. I went, and by the assistance of the 
young people was gloriously saved from all my sins, 
and I have been happy ever since. I came to warn 
you, brother pilgrim, of the danger of listening to the 
tempter and stopping here to make yourself better." 



CHAPTER IX. 

When Satan found I would not stop to make myself 
better he said: "If you are bound to seek religion 
now, I would advise you to seek it in secret, and not 
say anything about it until you know you have got it. 
You know that the Bible says that you must go into 
the secret closet when you want a blessing from the 
Lord." 

Nothing the devil had ever said influenced me as 
much as this plan, that the best place to get religion 
was in secret. I said to myself: "Well, he is sure 
right once." So I went to work to get religion and not 
let anybody know it. I tell you I found that a hard 
thing to do. When I would get what I thought to be a 
secret place to get religion, I did not pray aloud lest 
some one might hear me, and it seemed that I could 
get no feeling into my prayer so long as I whispered 
to the Lord lest I might be discovered. I tell you 
whispered prayers don't count much in getting relig- 
ion. I soon found the devil's plan of getting religion 
and not let anybody know it was a failure of the very 
worst sort. When a fellow starts out to serve the 
Lord he doesn't want to be ashamed of it. I soon found 

92 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 93 

that I had to confess Christ before men, or I never 
could get salvation. It is all right to pray after conver- 
sion in secret, but Christianity also has its public duties, 
and it is impossible to do all in secret. The Scripture 
says : "If we are ashamed of Christ he will be ashamed 
of us." 

I had not gone far toward the holiness mountains 
when I came nigh unto a most fascinating scene. As 
I looked toward the setting sun, I beheld the most 
beautiful landscape upon which my eyes ever rested. 
Beautiful hilltops carpeted in green, gushing foun- 
tains, rippling streams, shady groves, singing birds, 
fragrant flowers, and luscious fruits, all united to lend 
enchantment to the view. The sweet fragrance from 
the land was most delightful, the cooling breezes most 
refreshing, and the sweet tones of music almost heaven- 
like. The natural impulse of my heart was to defer 
my pilgrimage and stop and dwell in that land of 
wealth and pleasure. 

Just then the devil appeared and said : "Yes, that is 
right; every young man has to sow his wild oats, and 
you had just as well have some pleasure and get some 
wealth of the world before you tie yourself down to 
the sober, self-sacrificing life of a pilgrim. That is 
indeed a wonder-land of endless pleasure and unlimited 
wealth — its streams are lined with gold, and its pleas- 
ures can never be told." 

"Well," said I, "if I stop to seek the wealth of the 
world I fear I may lose my soul." "No danger of 
that," said Satan. "Do you think God wants the 
wicked world to have all the good things of life and 
leave the pilgrims destitute? You will need some of 
this wealth in your pilgrimage. It costs something to 
live a Christian life and support all the benevolent in- 



94 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

stitutions of the church. You had best stop a while 
and lay in a good supply, besides you had just as well 
have a good time for a while yet." 

That kind of talk pleased me very much, and I said : 
"Yes, I guess that is all so. Everybody has to sow 
their wild oats, and I had just as well sow mine. I 
could resist the temptation no longer, and I said: 
"Well, I am going to have a good time and get rich 
first, and then I will serve the Lord and go to heaven." 

Another sun had not set until I was in the midst of 
that "pleasure-land." I was determined to get all 
there was in it, and I shut out all thoughts of God 
and heaven and plunged headlong into the vortex of 
sin. I determined first of all to enjoy more of that 
sweet music that had been wafted to my ear while yet 
a pilgrim on the way to holiness mountains. I found 
that came from the playhouse of the rich and worldly, 
so I frequented the theaters, expecting to there find 
culture, refinement, and the most elevating and refining 
influences. Greatly to my surprise I found the very 
opposite. The immorality and indecency connected 
with the playhouse of the children of men was most 
disgusting and offensive to me. I frequented many 
other places of worldy amusement, but was disap- 
pointed and disgusted with all. They entirely failed to 
give the happiness for which my soul was thirsting. 

Then I started out to explore the land and secure my 
coveted wealth. While there was untold wealth in 
that land, it was worth one's life to get it. I rushed into 
the midst of the throngs of wealth-seekers, and battled 
with a heroism worthy of a nobler cause, but it was all 
for naught. Want and poverty soon stared me in the 
face. My condition became desperate, and I soon 
realized that I was in danger of dying for want, in the 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 95 

midst of plenty. The people of that land said their 
motto was : "Every fellow for himself and the devil 
for us all." I assure you that they lived up to their mot- 
to, for no one seemed to know the nearest neighbor, and 
none would listen to the cries of the needy. To me 
the "pleasure land" was a sad disappointment. I 
found that while it had a bright side it also had a dark 
side. On the sunny side viewed by the pilgrims on 
their way to glory there was everything that heart 
could wish, and none of its evils were visible. But as 
I explored the land I found it was not all sunshine. 
Many parts of the land are most dark and gloomy 
and subject to the most devastating tornadoes of de- 
structions. 

The sparking streams I so admired on entering the 
land wound their way down to the river of sin, the 
crystal waters had become polluted and filthy. It 
was full of corruption and poison, often mingled with 
human blood. Mighty throngs of suffering humanity 
were daily seen crowding its rugged banks. Thousands 
fell headlong into this river of sin, and drifted down 
to the land of perdition. So crazed were the masses 
of people in their pursuit of riches and pleasures that 
they trod upon each other and crowded each other on 
to destruction with a power that was well nigh irre- 
sistible. To add to the misery of these unfortunate 
people, there had been established all along the river 
of sin, and all over the land, distilleries and gambling 
and drinking halls, which supplied the distressed and 
suffering people with liquid damnation. So mighty 
were these institutions that they ruled the land and 
crushed the helpless and suffering citizens under the 
iron heel of oppression. 



96 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

On either side of the river of sin could be seen the 
broad railroads with their long train of wine-colored 
cars which these oppressors, under Satan's supervision, 
used to transport their victims to the gulf of despair 
and land of perdition. The "Perdition Express" car- 
ried her thousands of lost souls every day. The "Hell 
Flyer" went through without a stop, delivering tens 
of thousands daily. 

Talk about that being pleasure land, there was no 
pleasure there for me. I longed to get away and dwell 
in the land of gospel light. I again turned my face in 
that direction, but it was only after a great struggle 
and persistent effort that I broke away from the chains 
of sin that bound me in a life of worldliness. 



CHAPTER X. 

I immediately pressed toward the mount of regener- 
ation, which is at the beginning of the highway that 
leads to glory. Mount Regeneration is where the pil- 
grims get the first religious experience. It is a trinity 
mountain having three distinct tops, but appearing as 
one single mountain. These three tops of the moun- 
tain represent the three works of grace. The first 
is the work of pardon, or justification, the second is 
the work of conversion, regeneration, or the new birth, 
and the third is the witness of the Holy Ghost to the 
pardon of sin. This trinity of blessings always come 
to the soul at the same time. God never pardons with- 
out regenerating and giving witness of the Spirit, yet 
they are each distinct in their nature. The first is an 
act of God in heaven, the second is a work of the Holy 
Spirit in the heart, and the third is the Spirit's witness 
that the other two have been accomplished. 

I had all this Christian experience in my mind, and 
was determined to get it at once, but when I had near- 
ly reached the foot of the mountain of regeneration, the 
devil stepped in between it and me. He did not go on 
the Lord's highway, for God never permits that, but 

97 



98 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

he got as near the trinity mountain as he dared to. I 
was not surprised at the devil, for that is his business, 
but I was surprised when I saw a great company of 
meek-looking men come marching down the mountain 
side and stop right between me and Mount Regenera- 
tion. As they came they were singing "Glory Hallelu- 
jah," and each was carrying one or more little red 
books in their hands. I first thought these were little 
pocket Bibles like the one father had left me. But 
I soon found they were not Bibles. 

I said to the devil : "Who are these people, and 
what is their object in coming here?" 

He said : "That is the pious four hundred. They 
have the reputation of being the most holy people in 
the world, as to their purpose in coming here they can 
speak for themselves." 

I felt greatly encouraged at the thought of having 
the sympathy and assistance of the pious four hun- 
dred, for I was then passing through the most trying 
period of my life, and had great need of encourage- 
ment and sympathy. I began to seek Christ more 
earnestly than ever, but it seemed that something pre- 
vented me getting salvation. I concluded perhaps I 
had not made a full consecration, and I prayed aloud 
and promised the Lord I would put all on his altar for 
life. Soul, body, time, property, talent, and everything 
on earth was to be consecrated to the service of God. 

I was hardly done praying when the devil said: 
"There is no use in that. People do not make full con- 
secrations when they first come to Christ ; they do that 
later in life." "Amen! Amen!" said the pious four 
hundred. 

The devil suggested that it were better not to make 
a full surrender to God at conversion, for I might re- 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 99 

gret it and I could get conversion just as well without 
a full consecration. He said : "Do you not remember 
that all the camp-meeting folks said they never made a 
full consecration until after they were converted?" 

I remembered that very well, and I said : "That is 
so ; it looks as if they got conversion without a full con- 
secration ; I guess I can, too. I was well pleased with 
the suggestion, for there were some things I did not 
much want to consecrate to God. Among these things, 
the most important was my pocketbook. I said : "All 
right, if I can get religion without making a full con- 
secration so much the better. I did not put any of my 
property on the altar. I said I would reserve that 
and then I could do as I pleased with it. Also, I said 
I would not promise to speak or pray in public or do 
very much church work. 'I also reserved the right to 
go to the theater and show, in case I should wish to do 
so. I went to praying for conversion, but my prayer 
did not seem to go any higher than my head and I 
could not get any kind of conversion. 

Then I promised the Lord if he would save me I 
would give up dancing, theater-going, etc. I felt but 
little better, and could not find salvation. I then be- 
gan to read my Bible to find what was wrong, and I 
soon found that I had to surrender all to God. 

I said to Satan : "See, here, you and the four hun- 
dred are mistaken. The Bible teaches that I have got 
to make a full consecration to God, or I cannot get 
any blessings. I have found that God will accept no 
half-way consecration. I am going to make a full 
consecration and seek salvation from all sin now." 

"You cannot be saved from all sin now," said the 
devil. "Don't you know conversion always leaves a 



Hi m a 



ioo THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

root of sin in the heart, and it can only be removed by 
a future blessing?" 

"Amen," said the pious four hundred. 

"Well, I never heard that before," said I. "Pray 
tell me why God leaves a root of sin in the heart at 
conversion? Is it because he is not able to remove it 
all at once?" 

"No," said the devil. "He could take all the sin out 
of the heart if he wanted to do so." 

I said : "Well, I want all sin removed now ; I am 
tired of it, and I do not want you to have any more 
rule in my heart, no, not even for one day." 

"Well, you camt help yourself," said the devil. 

"Do you think you are stronger than the Almighty?" 
said I. "Will you defy the Deity? I do not want sin 
left in my heart, and I know God does not, for he can- 
not look upon sin with any degree of allowance. We 
are united for its removal and I shall get heart purity 
and you cannot help yourself. The Bible says the old 
stony heart is taken away and a new heart is given. 
(Ezek. XXXVI, 26.) Yes, the old heart is taken 
away, roots and all, and a new heart of purity created 
in the image of God takes its place." 

"I tell you, you can't get purity at conversion," said 
the devil. 

"Amen, glory to God," said the pious four hundred. 

"Look here," said I. "Paul says : 'Therefore if any 
man be in Christ he is a new creature; old things are 
passed away, and all things are become new. (2 Cor.V, 
17.) If that means anything, it means that the sinful 
heart, roots and all are taken away." 

"I tell you, you cannot get heart purity at conversion 
and you need not expect it," said the devil. "You may 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 101 

be cleansed to the extent of actual sins, but the Adamic 
sins will still remain in your heart." 

"I never heard of two kinds of sin before," said I. 
''One thing is sure, you cannot make me father Adam's 
sins. I could not help Adam's sins, and I am sure that 
the kind Heavenly Father is not going to appropriate 
Adam's sins to me and punish me for something I 
could not help. No, sir. God knows I have got enough 
sins of my own without being held responsible for 
other people's sins. No man of this age will ever be 
sent to hell for Adam's sins." 

"Well," said the devil, "in regeneration the old man 
of sin is stunned and bound, but he is not cast out un- 
til at some future time you get another blessing." 

"Amen ! Praise the Lord !" said the pious four hun- 
dred. 

"Well," said I, "if the Lord is able to bind the old 
man of sin at conversion, pray tell me why he does not 
then cast him out and be done with it. I want him out ; 
if he stays in he destroys my Christian usefulness and 
may send my soul to hell ; surely my Heavenly Father 
would not risk my being lost when he has the old man 
of sin bound and could just as well toss him out as not. 

"Well," said Satan, "he is suppressed or subdued, 
but he is not cast out." 

"One thing sure," said I "you and Paul don't agree 
on this matter, for he says (Ephs. IV, 24; Col. Ill, 10) 
that the old man is put off when we believe, and the 
new man is put on which after God is created in 
righteousness and true holiness. Paul here says that 
this new man is renewed in knowledge after the image 
of him that created him. You are all compelled to 
admit 'hat Paul here teaches plainly that when we first 
believe, we are created anew in the image of God, and 



io2 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

that we then receive true holiness. That is the kind of 
conversion I want, and I know I shall never be satisfied 
with a salvation that saves me from only a part of my 
sins." 

"Young man," said the devil, "you had better go 
slow, don't you know that you are antagonizing doc- 
trines that have been taught for ages. All the churches 
and all the great preachers are against your belief that 
you can get hearty purity at conversion. If you dare 
persist in such a belief you will not be admitted into 
any church, but will be looked down upon as a 
heretic." 

"I beg to differ with you," said I. "All Christians, 
when first converted, believe they are saved from all 
sin, and if they ever believe differently they change 
their minds after conversion. The greatest divines of 
all ages believe as I do. I am willing to leave this with 
those who have washed their robes, and made them 
white through the blood of the lamb. Yonder is the 
learned Doctor Watson. Pray tell us, Doctor, does 
regeneration give heart purity ? Watson says : " 'The 
change in regeneration consists in the recovery of the 
moral image of God upon the heart/ " (Dictionary, 
page 815.) 

Doctor Adam Clark, tell us, does the new birth give 
holiness of heart? Doctor Clark says: "This new 
birth implies the renewing of the whole soul in 
righteousness and true holiness." (Commentary Jno. 

in, 3) 

Venerable John Wesley, pray tell us, does the new 
birth save us, from all sin, destroying the passions, 
envy, malice, hatred, etc.? John Wesley says: "It is 
the change wrought in the whole soul by the Almighty 
Spirit of God, when it is created anew in Jesus Christ, 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 103 

when it is renewed after the image of God, in right- 
eousness and true holiness, when the love of the world 
is changed into the love of God; pride into humility; 
passion into meekness ; hatred, envy, malice into a sin- 
cere, tender, disinterested love of all mankind. In a 
word, it is the change whereby the earthly, sensual, 
devilish mind is turned into the mind which was in 
Christ Jesus. This is the nature of the new birth. So 
is every one that is born of the Spirit. (Sermons, Vol. 
I, page 403.) 

Beloved John, the Apostle, tell us, can we be saved 
from all sin when we first come to God ? John says : 
"If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to for- 
give us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteous- 
ness." (1 John I, 9.) 

Tell us, beloved Paul, can we get holiness of heart 
when we first believe ? Paul says : " Ye put on the new 
man, which after God is created in righteousness and 
true holiness." (Eph. IV, 24.) 

Most glorious Son of God, Redeemer of the world, 
tell us, can we not be fully saved when we first believe ? 
Christ says : "Verily, verily I say unto you he that 
believeth in me hath everlasting life." (John VI, 47.) 

Immediately the pious four hundred began to read 
from their little books and gesticulate in a frightful 
manner. I did not know but they were going to do 
some dreadful thing. I asked Satan what it all meant, 
and he said they were trying to convince us pilgrims 
that we could not get purity at conversion. 

Just then I chanced to look to the left and I saw 
that many of the pilgrims had wandered away, and 
some were far in the distance returning to the plains 
of sin. They had become discouraged by hearing so 
much that minnified conversion. They said such a 



104 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

conversion would not amount to much, and if the devil 
was going to run them after conversion they would 
prefer to go back to the plains of sin and let him have 
full sway in their hearts. 

On the border of the plains of sin I could see infidels 
and skeptics holding a public reception in honor of the 
returning pilgrims. I could see them welcome the 
pilgrim back to their haunts of vice. 

As I looked in the distance and saw the dark land 
of perdition they were holding a jubilee over pilgrims 
who turned away at the mount of regeneration, because 
they were made to believe they could not be saved 
from all their sins. All hell seemed to be stirred, and 
all perdition seemed moved because of their arrival. 
When I looked upon that awful scene my soul fainted 
within me, and my eyes became a fountain of tears. I 
looked upon the long line of the pious four hundred 
who stood between us pilgrims and a perfect conver- 
sion. I plead with them most earnestly to get out of 
our way and let us go on to glory, but the nearer we 
came to them the more vehemently they declared we 
could never be saved from all sin in conversion. They 
said most emphatically that conversion simply bound 
and stunned the man of sin, and that pride, hatred, 
malice, and the earthly sensual mind would still re- 
main. 

I said, well, brothers, if this is all true, pray tell us 
what conversion does for a person, anyhow. It seems 
to me that the converted man is but little better than 
the world. 

I felt greatly discouraged. It seemed to me that I 
could have no heart to seek such a conversion. I blush 
to tell it, but I again turned my face toward the plains 
of sin. I had got along fairly well contending with the 






THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 105 

devil, but the pious four hundred so discouraged me 
that my heart sank within me, and dark despair settled 
around me. As I chanced to look toward the Holiness 
mountains I saw a pilgrim coming toward me, whom I 
recognized as the venerable Dr. Wise. As he ap- 
proached he smiled upon me in tender compassion and 
said: "My son, be of good cheer, let not thy courage 
fail thee, press right on up the mount of regeneration. 
Yield not to this temptation of Satan, neither harken 
to the council of the pious four hundred. I am come 
to tell you that I know by blessed experience that you 
may now be saved from all sin, and know that your 
name is written in the Lamb's book of life. 

I said, "Doctor, what about the testimony of the 
pious four hundred? They say I cannot now be fully 
saved and they claim that their testimony would be 
taken in any court of the land, and would settle all legal 
questions." 

"I am not so sure about that," said Dr. Wise; "they 
are doubtless sincere and honest in this matter, but 
unfortunately they contradict themselves, for when 
they were converted they all declared they were then 
fully saved. I am very sure they were right then, and 
mistaken now. Besides you must remember that there 
are more than ten thousand Christians as honest as 
they are who testify to salvation from all sin in conver- 
sion, and these ten thousand Christians never con- 
tradicted themselves either; therefore the burden of 
proof is against the belief of the pious four hundred. 
Yes, my brother, the Bible, Christian experience, and 
human reason all unite in declaring that you may be 
saved from all sin in regeneration. Common sense will 
teach you that a perfect conversion only is God-like. 
Wherever we behold the work of God elsewhere it is 



106 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

perfect, hence we may safely infer that it will be per- 
fect in conversion. Look into the starry heavens 
above, see the great systems of the worlds, every one 
is perfect, none too large, none too small. Every one 
is perfectly adapted to its sphere, and has moved with 
wonderful regularity these thousands of years. There 
is no friction, no collision, but all move in perfect har- 
mony. Look all around you, nature is perfect. No 
mistakes or faults, nothing left unfinished, no birds 
without wings, no fish without fins, but everything has 
all that best adapts it to its mode of life. Look at man, 
the crowning work of creation, is he not physically 
perfect? Who can suggest improvement in his phys- 
ical structure? Look at the eye, look at the ear, look 
at the hand, can any man suggest improvement ? Are 
they not all perfect? If God has thus made everything 
else perfect may we not conclude that the work of con- 
version will also be perfect? 

"Again, we see that what God makes in nature he 
makes complete at once. He does nothing by piece- 
meal. When he made the world he completed it at 
once. When he made the animal world he completed 
it at once. When he made man he completed him at 
once. He left no half worlds, no half men. May we 
not from these facts infer that if he saved a soul from 
sin he would complete the work at once ? Why should 
he not change a sinner into a saint at once, instead of 
leaving him a sinner-saint? We can see no reason 
why God should save the sinner on the 'installment 
plan.' Some like that plan, because they are not able 
for any other. They can do wonders, if you give them 
a little time. But surely God does not need to work on 
the 'installment plan' in the work of conversion. He 
can break the power of Satan in the soul, and cleanse 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 107 

the heart from all sin as easily in one moment as in a 
century. 

"Again, we may safely determine what kind of work 
the Lord Jesus will do in conversion by the kind of 
work he did when on earth. Is it not true that men 
always received more at his hand than they expected? 
That was true of both temporal and spiritual blessings. 
See him feeding the four thousand ! They all expected 
a slim dinner that day, but they got a square meal. 
Perhaps it was the best they ever had in their lives, 
besides they had more left for the next meal than 
they had at the beginning, yet they tell us when 
Christ spreads a gospel feast for the sinner he is not 
going to give him near the blessing he expects, but will 
leave him with sin in his heart. 

"See those hungry fishermen at the seaside; when 
Christ appeared to get them a mess of fish they ex- 
pected but little, and Peter was slow to let the net down 
on the other side when he had brought it up empty so 
often. But despite their small expectations they got 
the best supply of fish that old net had ever caught. 
That was just like Christ, he always does things on a 
large scale. Is not that fact a good reason for saying 
that purity in conversion is God-like? 

"When Christ healed men of disease they expected 
only the cure of the body, but he saved them from all 
their sins. He made a perfect cure of soul and body. 
Who ever knew of one of his patients having a relapse ? 
If he did perfect work then will he not, when he con- 
verts a soul, do perfect work? When Christ raised 
the dead he did not leave the person half dead and half 
alive. When he cured the blind he did not cure one 
eye and leave the other blind. When he cast the devils 
out of Magdelene he did not cast out six and leave the 



108 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

seventh. According to the way some people say he 
works now, we would have expected him, in casting 
out the legion of devils out of the demoniac to have 
left a few of them in until the poor fellow repented 
the second time. But such a thing would not have been 
God-like, and never entered the mind of Christ. No 
less would an imperfect conversion today be God-like. 
We do not find God working that way either in the 
natural or spiritual world. 

No, young man, you need have no fear as to the 
willingness of God to now save you from all of your 
sins. That has been the experience of the whole Chris- 
tian world, and if any teach differently they have been 
led into that error since their conversion. No man 
has ever been known to seek a salvation that would 
save him from a part of his sins only, and none ever, 
when first converted, professed to receive such. Go 
right forward, brother pilgrim. May God bless you. 
Good-by. 

When good Dr. Wise was gone I felt much en- 
couraged; but so persistent were the efforts of the 
pious four hundred to convince me that I could not be 
fully saved that I again faltered and turned my face 
toward the plains of sin. What discouraged me the 
most was their emphatic statements that I could not 
believe in heart purity at conversion and be loyal to 
the church, and if I did so I would be considered a 
heretic. 

As I looked toward the plains of sin I saw Brother 
Dave, a fellow pilgrim, coming toward me. With up- 
lifted hands and much gesticulation he was warning 
me not to come in that direction. As he drew near he 
said : "Brother pilgrim, this is most dangerous ground, 
at this place in the pilgrim way, thousands are being 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 109 

tempted of the devil and turned back to the land of 
perdition. I know the temptation through which you 
are passing, for one year ago today Satan, by minnify- 
ing conversion, discouraged me and caused me to turn 
back to the plains of sin. I came very near losing my 
soul. Had it not been for the awful experience of Billy 
Humes, which caused me to see my danger, perhaps I 
would have been lost forever. Billy was one of the 
'upper tens,' and everybody said if he was once con- 
verted he would have a wonderful influence for good. 
He attended Parson Grimes' meeting. Parson Grimes 
had been laboring night after night, and not a soul 
had made a start before. There had been some rejoic- 
ing among the church members, but nothing done 
among the sinners. Everybody said when Billy went 
forward that the 'ice was now broken,' and they would 
have a glorious revival like they had in the former 
years of Parson Grimes ministry. 

"Billy Humes said he knew he was a great sinner 
and the Lord would have a big job when he began on 
him, but he was determined to make a full surrender 
and seek with his whole heart, and if there was such a 
thing as knowing sins were forgiven he was never 
going to stop until he knew he was saved. He said it 
seemed like a great undertaking, but he had put it off 
as long as he could, and from that time on he was going 
to try to serve God as faithfully as he had been serving 
the devil. 

"Billy seemed to get deeper and deeper convicted 
until the third night, when he was seeking most 
earnestly and praying aloud. That night Parson 
Grimes went to him and said : 'What is the matter, 
Brother Billy? Why can't you find a blessing?' 



no THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

"Billy said, 'I don't know ; it seems to me that I 
have done everything that I can. I have given all to 
God, and am willing to do anything that I may have 
the pardon of sin.' 

"Parson Grimes said: 'Brother Billy, perhaps you 
are expecting too much in conversion, sometimes peo- 
ple look for too much when they come to seek Christ.' 

"Billy said : 'Well, I don't want any half-way work 
about it. I want to be saved, and I want to know it. 
I want such a baptism of the Holy Spirit as will elec- 
trify me from head to foot and take all this mountain of 
sin from my heart.' 

"Parson Grimes said : 'Brother Billy, it is possible 
you are expecting too much of the Lord in conversion. 
You cannot get the baptism of the Holy Spirit in its 
highest sense at conversion, that is a second work 
which comes after conversion. You must not expect 
to be saved from all sin now, God takes away a part of 
your sins in conversion and finishes the work when 
you repent the second time later in life.' 

"Billy Humes said : 'Parson, I want a thorough and 
complete work now. I have been serving the devil 
with all my might, and now I want to serve God as 
faithfully.' 

"Parson Grimes said : 'Well, Billy, God will give you 
another greater blessing later if you will seek it, and it 
will cleanse you from all sin, and then you will have 
heart purity.' 

'What,' said Billy, 'cannot God give me heart purity 
now ?' 

'No,' said the parson, 'he cannot do that now; he 
will take off the top of the plant of sin in your heart, 
but the root remains and is taken out when you get the 
other blessing.' 






THE DEVIL UNMASKED. in 

''Billy said: 'Why cannot I have heart purity now, 
I am so tired of sin; I do so much want it all taken 
away now/ 

"Parson Grimes said: 'Pray on brother, pray on; 
God will give you a great blessing now, and if you will 
trust him he will give you one still greater after a 
while.' 

"Billy said : 'O, parson ! Pray for me now that I 
may be saved from all my sins ! It does seem to me I 
can carry this burden no longer.' 

"The parson replied: T tell you, Brother Billy, you 
cannot be saved from all your sins in conversion. I 
would not dare to pray for that. God is able and will- 
ing to save you from "actual sins" now, but he cannot 
save you from the other sin.' 

"A cold chill ran all over Billy and he quieted down 
and said no more. His soul was sinking down in 
black despair. The parson had shut off the last ray 
of hope from his soul, and he prayed no more. He 
left the church that night the perfect picture of 
despair. He never entered the house of worship 
again.' 

"Some days after the parson called on Billy at his 
home to see why he had quit seeking religion. He was 
somewhat astonished when Billy frankly told him that 
he was the cause of it. He told him that he believed 
he was almost ready to receive the blessing when the 
parson came to him, but when he was told that he could 
not be saved from all sin then, it discouraged him, and 
the devil took advantage of that and got the victory 
over him, and now his heart was as hard as a rock.' 

" T am real sorry,' said the parson, 'if I discouraged 
you, for I was greatly interested in your salvation and 



112 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

wanted to explain our doctrine to you so you would 
know just what to expect.' 

"Billy said : Tarson, I never heard that doctrine of 
imperfect conversion before; never in all my life have 
I heard of a seeker of salvation who sought conversion 
that was to save him from only a part of his sins, and 
I never heard a convert praising God for salvation 
from a part of his sins. They always believe they are 
saved from all sin, and if I cannot get that kind I do 
not think it worth while to make any further effort.' 

"The parson went on to explain that God takes away 
all actual sins, but there were certain other sins that 
remained until the Christian got the baptism of the 
Holy Spirit. 

" Tarson, I do not think your brand of religion 
would suit me,' said Billy; T want to be saved from 
all sin or none. If the devil is still going to run me 
after conversion I had just as well give him the right 
of way and say no more about conversion.' 

" 'Well,' said the parson, 'the devil need not have 
very much influence on your Christian life if you will 
just go right on and get the baptism of the Holy Spirit 
after you are converted, for that breaks the power of 
Satan in your soul, and after that you will be pure in 
heart and can live without sin.' 

" 'How long is it after conversion,' said Billy, 'before 
people can get the heart purity?' 'Well, said the 
parson,'that differs with different individuals. Most 
people are several months or years in attaining purity, 
but some have been known to get it within five days 
of conversion.' 

"Billy said : 'Parson, if God can cleanse the soul 
from all sin on Saturday night, there is no good rea- 
son that he could not just as easily do it on the Monday 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 113 

night previous, when the soul is converted. I would 
give anything in the world if I could have been con- 
verted last Monday night, but your talk discouraged 
me, and I gave up in despair, and now all feeling on 
this subject is gone, and I fear I never shall be saved.' 

"Two weeks from that day Parson Grimes stood by 
the dying-bed of Billy Humes and looked into his pale 
face upon which were written the dark lines of despair. 
All effort to point him to Christ were of no avail. He 
constantly exclaimed : 'Too late ! too late ! Lost ! lost 
forever !' 

"Parson Grimes turned from that bedside with a sad 
heart, for he felt that, as Billy said, he might have been 
converted if he had not pressed his doctrine of imper- 
fect conversion upon him when he was in the very act 
of claiming salvation. 

"I tell you this sad experience of Billy Humes 
alarmed me, for I saw that by yielding to Satan's 
temptation here I was going in Billy's footsteps. I 
turned back again to this pilgrim way, and I came to 
warn you, brother pilgrim, lest you yield to the same 
temptation." 

Brother Dave had scarcely left me when I saw 
coming down Mount Regeneration one beautiful in 
form like unto an angel being. I first thought God was 
surely sending an angel to comfort me and guide my 
footsteps up the Mount of Regeneration. That was 
not true, but it was even better than that, for he was 
sending one that could do that work better than any 
angel of heaven. 

I soon recognized the coming messenger as Sister 
Angie, who started on pilgrimage before me. She 
was more welcome than would have been an angel 
being, not that she was more holy or more intelligent, 



ii 4 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

but the fact that she had passed along here and 
experienced the same temptations and later received 
the joys of conversion, made it possible for her to sym- 
pathize with me as no angel who had never been 
tempted or converted could possibly have done. 

As she drew near she beckoned me to come on up 
the Mount of Regeneration. As I hesitated to do so 
she drew near and warned me of the dangers of the 
place in which I stood. She told me how a few 
months before she was tempted there in like manner 
and turned back to the plains of sin. The conversion 
of a little country maid was the means in the hands 
of God in bringing her back to the pilgrim way. 

She said : "The first Sunday after I returned to the 
plains of sin, Parson Grimes preached on his favorite 
theme of 'Sin in Believers.' In the congregation was 
a little country maid of about twelve summers, down 
her rustic cheeks the tears were seen to course their 
way a number of times during the sermon. When the 
invitation to unite with the church was given, this 
little maid boldly came forward and gave her hand 
as an expression of her desire to become a member. 

The parson announced the regular prayer meeting 
for Thursday evening and the holiness prayer meeting 
for Tuesday evening, as was his custom, after which 
he closed the service. 

The parson found the little maid who came forward 
had just moved with her parents from the country 
into town, and this was her first service. The parson 
gave her a most cordial welcome, into her new church 
home. He found her to be an earnest seeker of salva- 
tion, but greatly in need of religious instructions. 
About the first thing she said was, "O Parson Grimes, 
can't you tell me how to be saved, I am so tired of sin. 






THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 115 

I have been seeking religion so long, and it seems more 
and more mysterious all the time." 

Of course the parson did his best to point her to 
Christ, but some of her questions were quite embar- 
rassing to the good parson and he hardly knew how to 
answer them. 

During the conversation after service she said: "I 
have learned something today that I never knew before. 
I learned from your sermon that there are two kinds of 
sin, actual sin and inbred sin; two kinds of sinners, 
actual sinners and inbred sinners ; two kinds of salva- 
tion, common salvation and full salvation; two kinds 
of Christians, holy Christians and Christians who are 
not holy, and two kinds of church meetings, one for 
holy Christians, and one for merely justified Chris- 
tians. Out where I live people think there is but one 
kind of sin, one kind of salvation, and one kind of 
Christians. Christians all go to one meeting there, and 
they are awfully down on cliques and classes in 
church, but I suppose it is different in town. Now, 
Parson Grimes, I know that I am a sinner, but for the 
life of me I cannot tell whether I am an actual sinner 
or an inbred sinner. I believe I am the worst sinner, 
but I do not know which kind that is. 

"Well, my dear child," said the parson, "you have 
both actual and inbred sins, but when you are con- 
verted that will take away all actual sins. 

"Then I will have full salvation, will I not"? said 
the little maid. 

"No, my dear, you will have salvation, but not full 
salvation. You have to repent and seek again just as 
you did at first, to get full salvation. You are merely 
justified like the common Christian." 



n6 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

"That is not the kind of salvation I want, parson. 
I want to get full salvation first. I am tired of sin, I 
hate it and I want to be saved from all sin now." 

"My dear sister, Christ is willing to save you from 
all actual sin now, but you are not saved from inbred 
sin until you repent again and get a second blessing." 

"O, Parson !" said the little maid, "please let me go 
to the meeting Tuesday night and seek heart purity." 

"You are perfectly welcome to come to the meeting," 
said the Parson, "but you can never get holiness until 
after you are converted or born again." 

"How long will it be after I am converted before 
I can get heart purity or holiness?" said the little girl. 

"That differs with different people," said the Parson. 
"Some are years in attaining holiness, some find it in 
a few months, and some have been known to ex- 
perience it in five days after conversion." 

"O, Parson, I may be dead and buried within five 
days or a few months," said the little maid, and she 
turned and left the church weeping as though her lit- 
tle heart would break. 

That afternoon this little girl went to Sunday-school 
and was put in Elder Stikes' class. Her teacher noticed 
that she was very sad and occasionally wiped away a 
tear that was stealing its way down her cheek. After 
Sunday-school, her teacher remained and had a talk 
with her on the subject of religion. He found her un- 
der deep conviction, but discouraged by what the pas- 
tor had told her about the impossibility of getting heart 
purity at once. 

"Well," said her teacher, "we will go over to the 
parsonage and see the Parson about that." On enter- 
ing the parsonage, Elder Stikes said : "Well, Parson 
Grimes, here is another of my Sunday-school girls you 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 117 

have gotten into trouble by your new belief in an im- 
perfect conversion." 

At that the little maid broke down, and with stream- 
ing eyes exclaimed : "O, Parson, I can't wait any 
longer. I must have this sin all taken away right now ; 
do pray for me." 

That place was too sacred for controversy, and the 
Parson, Elder Stikes and others knelt with the little 
maid, and plead with God to save her from sin. In a 
few moments she leaped to her feet and exclaimed: 
"Glory to Jesus ! I am saved ; my sins are all taken 
away. O, my soul is so happy." As she shook hands 
with the Parson she said : "O, Parson, you were mis- 
taken that time; yes, I know you were, for Jesus has 
given me a pure heart right now, I know it; for his 
Spirit tells me so. O glory to Jesus for a clean heart." 
Away she flew like a heavenly angel to her humble 
home bearing the glad tidings of salvation from all 
sin. 

When she had gone, Elder Stikes said: "Well, 
Parson, what do you think of that ?" 

"That is a pretty clear conversion," said the Parson. 

"Yes, indeed, it is," said the Elder. "With such 
Christian experience as this before you, I do not see 
how you can believe that conversion does not give 
heart purity. The plain, uninstructed country girl 
knows nothing of the fine hair-splitting theories of sin 
and salvation, but she knew that she was a sinner, and 
she now has the witness of God's Spirit to the fact that 
all sin is taken from her heart. How can you ques- 
tion such a wonderful display of Divine Power? I 
should think you would give up your belief in imper- 
fect conversion when you see such religious experience, 



n8 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

and when you see that it is a hindrance to seekers of 
salvation." 

I tell you, bx other pilgrim, when I saw the ex- 
perience of that little country girl, I was fully con- 
vinced that I had been deceived as to the possibility of 
being saved from all sin in conversion, and I at once 
retracted my steps, ascended Mount Regeneration, and 
experienced for myself the fact that God saves from 
all sin in regeneration. O, my brother pilgrim, I would 
plead with you for the sake of Christ, who died for 
you, never yield to this temptation to again turn your 
face toward the plains of sin." 

I said: "No, Sister Angie, I never will," and I 
started again up the Mount of Regeneration. 

The pious four hundred stood immovable in their 
opposition to my seeking a perfect conversion. I ex- 
claimed : "O, men of God ! Men of God ! How long 
will you continue to minnify God's gracious work of 
conversion ? How long will you continue to lower the 
standard of Christian living? How long will you con- 
tinue to drive the pilgrims away from Christ by mak- 
ing them believe they cannot be fully saved? You 
may be honest and sincere in this, but you are greatly 
in error. O, men of God, in the name of high heaven, 
I plead with you to get out of the way of these heaven- 
bound pilgrims, and let them ascend the Mount of 
Regeneration and take Christ as their Saviour from 
all sin." 

The way was cleared, the devil fled, and the power 
of God came down. We prostrated ourselves before 
God in prayer, the baptism of the Holy Ghost de- 
scended, and the Pentecostal fire rested upon every 
soul. Shouts of triumph ascended, the songs of praise 
echoed through the Mount of Regeneration. O, it 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 119 

was glorious to be there. It seemed that heaven came 
down to earth. I had never known what joy and 
happiness was before. One hour of this heavenly 
life was worth more than a whole life of sin. I was 
saved and fully saved, and I had the evidence of God's 
Spirit to that fact. 



CHAPTER XL 

As I stood for the first time on the summit of 
Mount Regeneration and looked down to the plains of 
sin from whence I came, it seemed but a short distance, 
and I wondered how I could have been so long making 
the journey. It looked as though the journey could 
be made in a day or two, and I had been months in 
attaining the experience of regeneration. As I talked 
with the pilgrims, I learned that many of them actually 
made the journey in less than one day, and very few 
were over a week in accomplishing the journey that 
had taken me many long months to make. I was great- 
ly humiliated when these facts became known to me. 

For the benefit of other pilgrims I will state the 
reason I was so long in reaching the summit of Mount 
Regeneration. It was wholly my own fault, and not 
because God was not willing to save me sooner. My 
great mistake was that of tarrying to reason and argue 
with Satan, as he appeared to me all along the way. 
That is a mistake that got me into much trouble and 
caused me great delay. If I had always said: "Get 
thee behind me, Satan," and not stopped to listen to 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 121 

him, I, like other pilgrims, could have realized salva- 
tion in a very short time. True, the devil, made a most 
heroic effort to turn me from the way of holiness, 
tempting me perhaps in more different ways than he 
did any other one pilgrim. Yet, had I not listened to 
his suggestions, he could have delayed me but a very 
little. 

As I stood upon the mount of Christian experience, 
I wanted to praise God that he had brought me into 
such a glorious experience, yet I was humiliated when 
I saw how long I had distrusted the Divine promises 
and lacked the courage to go up and possess that 
Christian experience. 

It was no little surprise to me on reaching the sum- 
mit of Mount Regeneration, to find that the pilgrims 
had a variety of experiences on the reception of re- 
generating grace. I had supposed that all Christian 
experience would be exactly alike, but I soon found 
that God did not stereotype Christian experience as I 
had expected. Among the pilgrims there was a great 
variety of feelings, and different degrees of joy on 
the reception of converting power. Some were made 
shouting happy and praised God aloud for hours. Some 
suddenly received a sweet peace of soul while they 
calmly drank of the water of life. Some expressed 
their feelings by great laughter, and others could 
scarcely tell the exact moment they were saved ; their 
change had come more gradual, like unto the coming 
day, yet they knew, beyond all doubt, that the dark- 
night of sin was past, and the glorious day of salvation 
had come. 

It seemed that most pilgrims when they started up 
Mount Regeneration made a little program of the feel- 
ings that they desired and expected, hut as a rule, their 



122 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

experience was not just as expected. It seemed that 
God would teach them to trust all in his hands and not 
dictate the kind of feelings they must have. 

I was greatly rejoiced to see that, as a rule, the pil- 
grims were not selfish or egotistic, but gladly recog- 
nized all as fellow pilgrims, whether their experience 
was exactly like their own or not. But a few made the 
sad mistake of declaring that none were Christians un- 
less their feelings were exactly the same as their own. 

The devil took advantage of this variety in Christian 
experience to tempt many Christians to believe that 
they never had been converted because they were not 
so happy as some others when converted. I found this 
was one of Satan's most successful means of getting 
pilgrims back again to the plains of sin. 

I met a great many pilgrims who had for years been 
troubled over the fact that they did not shout when 
converted, and they seemed to think that if they were 
not happy enough to shout when converted, they never 
would be shouting happy, as long as they lived. 

I did my best to correct this error and convince the 
pilgrims that if they went on doing faithful work for 
God and seeking greater joy they would soon receive 
it. Many followed such advice and were soon shout- 
ing the praises of God. Among that number none 
was more joyful than Brother Charley, a fellow pil- 
grim, who started for glory just before me. 

For the benefit of fellow pilgrims, I here give Char- 
ley's experience as he told it to me. He said : "In my 
earliest Christian life my greatest mistake was that of 
doubting my conversion because it was not just like 
some others I saw. I began to seek religion when quite 
young. I thought that if I was ever converted I 
would be electrified from head to foot, and would feel 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 123 

a thrill of joy that would cause me to shout the praises 
of God aloud. I had a little program of just how I 
wanted to feel, and did not think anything else would 
be real genuine conversion unless it was exactly as I 
had planned. 

"My most intimate 'boy friend/ the preacher's boy 
Joe, was the very opposite of me. He was not relig- 
ious and did not think he ever would be, but he said 
if he ever was converted he did not want any shouting 
in his. He said he just thought it was awful the way 
some people took on in church, and he never would 
disgrace himself that way. The fact of it was, Joe 
was a pretty wild boy, if he was the preacher's boy. 
But I liked him better than any other boy in town, and 
he and I were together nearly all the time. 

"When Joe's father began the revival meeting he 
would not go near it. I guess he was afraid the 
church people would get hold of him. I went to the 
meeting every night and soon got interested. I had 
been seeking religion in secret a long time, but as I 
was afraid to come out boldly on the Lord's side, of 
course, I did not find any peace. One night I made up 
my mind to go to the altar and seek religion if it killed 
me. I tell you when I got to feeling that way it did 
not take me long to fi S l! lion. I was converted in 
less than ten minutes after I got to the altar of prayer. 
I felt that my burden of sin was taken away and I had 
a sweet peace in my soul, but I did not feel like shout- 
ing, nor did I feel any peculiar sensation like I had 
expected. In fact I never felt more natural in my 
life, but the burden of sin and consciousness of con- 
demnation was gone. The first thought that came in 
my mind after I was converted was the conversion of 
Joe, my chum. Oh, how I did wish he was there. 



124 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

Next morning at the breakfast table Joe's father said 
to him: 'Who do you suppose was converted last 
night ?' Joe was afraid his father was going to tackle 
him about not being religious, and wanted to bluff him 
on the start, so he said : 'I don't know ; I am not giv- 
ing myself any concern about those things. It makes no 
difference to me who joins the church.' His father 
said : 'Well, Joe, your chum was converted and joined 
the church last night.' Joe afterward said that a clap 
of thunder from a clear sky could not have surprised 
him more, as he had no idea that I was thinking any- 
thing about being religious. But he did not express to 
his father any surprise or concern about it, but gave 
him to understand that all thoughts of church matters 
were foreign to his mind. 

"That night I went around to call upon Joe to see if 
I could not get him to be religious. When I went in 
Joe looked awfully scared, for he knew what to ex- 
pect. I asked him to go walking with me, and we 
started out for a long walk. On the way I told my 
chum all about my religious experience, and urged 
him to give his heart to Jesus. He would not say 
much, but. I saw he was deeply moved. When we 
got near to our house, I said: 'Joe, let us go to my 
room and have prayer over this matter.' He said: 
'No, no ; that might disturb your folks. I would not 
like to do that.' We started back to Joe's home, and 
when we got near the house I said : 'Chum, let us go 
up into your room and pray.' He hesitated a little and 
then said : 'Charley, excuse me this time, as it might 
disturb our folks.' I said : 'Well, Joe, let us go to the 
barn then/ and I started in that direction, for I knew a 
little prayer-meeting would not disturb the horse and 
the old cow. Joe stopped at the door and I went in and 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 125 

knelt on the hay and began to pray for him. I had 
not been there long until he came in and threw him- 
self down on the hay by me and began to cry aloud for 
mercy. We were there alone some time. 

"When Joe's mother was getting ready to retire for 
the night, she said : 'Husband, it seems to me I hear 
a noise/ and she raised the window to listen. She 
said: 'Listen, I hear some one praying; yes, that is 
Joe's voice; he is in the barn.' Out she flew to the 
barn to witness what she had been praying for these 
years. The scene that followed, I shall never under- 
take to describe, but Joe was gloriously converted 
there in the barn. When he went to the house, he went 
shouting every step of the way. That was a glorious 
night for my chum and me. 

"Never in my life had I seen a soul so happy as Joe 
was. His conversion was my ideal of what a conver- 
sion should be ; I thought he would shout all night. 
After much rejoicing over him, his parents requested 
him to go to bed. He said: 'No, not this night. I 
want to tell this whole town about this glorious salva- 
tion,' and off he started in spite of their protests. As 
he went he told neighbors and friends about his glorious 
conversion. Of course, I stayed with him, and we went 
from house to house and he rang the doorbells, and 
when they invited us in, he told his wonderful ex- 
perience and urged them to seek Christ. He continued 
until after midnight, and God blessed that midnight 
excursion with most glorious results. It was followed 
by a great many conversions, and more than a half 
dozen of those converts became ministers of the gos- 
pel. 

"I tell you, I was awfully glad to see my chum so 
gloriously converted, but there was one thing about his 



126 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

conversion that afterward gave me no little trouble. I 
wondered a great deal why I did not get as happy as 
he did, and shout like him, when I was converted. It 
seemed strange to me that when he did not want to 
shout, that he should be so happy and shout so much, 
and I wanted to be happy enough to shout at conver- 
sion and did not shout at all. The Tempter seemed to 
suggest: 'Yes, that is so; you were not really con- 
verted, or you would have shouted like Joe did.' 

"I began to wonder if it were possible that I was 
excited and imagined I was converted, when I was 
not. Of course, the more I doubted my religious ex- 
perience and reasoned with the devil about it, the worse 
I felt. 

"One day I got to talking with my chum about it and 
said : ']oe, I would give anything on earth if I could 
have such a religious experience as you had the night 
you were converted.' I told him all about how I was 
tempted to believe I was not converted. 

"He said : 'Oh, you foolish fellow, how can you be 
so wicked as to doubt your conversion? How could 
you have ever led me to Christ and worked like you 
did, if you were not converted ? Your mistake is that 
of dictating to the Lord just how you shall feel when 
you are saved. Leave the matter of feelings all with 
the Lord. No two people have exactly the same feel- 
ings when converted. You don't want to doubt your 
conversion just because you do not feel like somebody 
else at conversion. No two blades of grass are exactly 
alike, no two leaves are exactly alike, and it need not 
surprise you if no two conversions are in every respect 
alike. There is a great similarity in the religious ex- 
perience of all converts, but the degree of joy may not 
be alike in any two persons. What you want is to 






THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 127 

trust the matter of joyous feelings entirely in the hands 
of God, praising him for what you have, and he will 
give you still greater experience. But if you doubt his 
work and deny what he has done, you will apostatize 
and lose your soul. Don't you think you can trust 
your Heavenly Father in this matter ?' 

"I saw at once that I had made a mistake, and I 
went out in the woods and consecrated myself anew 
to God and promised him to go to work for him and 
leave the matter of feelings entirely with him. That 
night I went to church, and when the call for seekers 
was made, I went out in the congregation to entreat 
sinners to come to Christ. The first one addressed 
laughed me to scorn, and I felt discouraged, but I 
tried another and he went to the altar of prayer. I 
pointed him to Christ, and when he was converted he 
shouted the praises of God. 

"I hardly thought of myself in my anxiety to rescue 
others, but I found myself shouting God's praises. Ever 
after I found the more I worked for Christ, the more 
joy I had in my soul. For a long time I seldom at- 
tended a revival service that I did not shout the praises 
of God aloud." 

This experience of Brother Charley was a great 
help to many pilgrims in preparing them to resist the 
devil's temptation to doubt their conversion. 

We were greatly pleased on reaching Mount Re- 
generation to find that the moral horizon of the pil- 
grims was greatly enlarged. Never in our lives had 
we so wide and grand a view of humanity, sin and sal- 
vation, as we had when we reached the summit of 
Mount Regeneration. It seemed that from the sum- 
mit of that mountain we had a clear view of the whole 



128 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

world, and we became interested in the whole world 
as we never had before. 

In our former life down on the plains oi sin our 
circle of vision was very small, and our interests were 
limited and selfish. That life of sin had a tendency 
to make us grow narrow and selfish, so that very many 
of us were very much like the old man who prayed : 
"O, Lord, bless me and my wife, my son John and his 
wife, us four and no more, Amen." No sooner had 
we reached the summit of Mount Regeneration than 
this selfishness all passed away, and as we looked down 
upon the broad plains of sin, our hearts were moved 
to sympathize with the lost world, and we longed to 
be instruments in the hands of God in rescuing the 
fallen of all lands. We realized the fact that the touch 
of God's converting power makes the whole world 
akin. As we looked out upon the world we could see 
in the distant lands millions of human beings rushing 
on to destruction, while there was none to rescue them, 
by pointing them to our glorious Christ. On the plains 
of sin from whence we came we could see great 
throngs of people rushing on to perdition, with no con- 
cern for salvation. We could see thousands leaving 
the plains of sin and starting toward Mount Regener- 
ation, only to be tempted of the devil and led astray. 
We could see them stopping to count the cost, make 
themselves better, pluck flowers of pleasure or the 
wreaths of wealth, and by so doing were led astray. 

Not only did the new birth enlarge our moral 
horizon, but it also implanted in our hearts the most 
essential elements of success in God's glorious work. 
There seemed to be a willingness to work and they did 
not wait for God to speak to them in a voice from 
heaven, or appear to them in a dream, or in any other 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 129 

miraculous manner call them to special work, but they 
cheerfully did the work nearest them and trusted 
Divine leadership as to the future. 

On arriving at the summit of Mount Regeneration, 
I had supposed I was out of gunshot of the devil, and 
would never be tempted any more. It would seem 
after so glorious a work of grace, we would never be 
tempted to do wrong again, but it was not so. 

I was so fortunate as not to see Satan for a long 
time after I was converted, but T saw many pilgrims 
who were sorely tempted but a few hours or days after 
their conversion. It matters not how bright and 
glorious the Christian experience may be, Satan often 
tempts the soul to doubt and sin after they are born 
of the Spirit, and it may be only a short time afterward. 
The pilgrims soon learned that the fact that they are 
tempted is no reflection on the completeness of the 
work of grace in conversion. It was my good fortune 
to enjoy the greatest peace and the most delightful 
communion with God for months after reaching Mount 
Regeneration. 



CHAPTER XII. 

As I stood on Mount Regeneration I could see 
pilgrims traveling in different directions. The most 
of them were going up the narrow way that leads to 
the celestial city. I could see thousands and tens of 
thousands who looked neither to the right nor left, but 
with their thoughts and affections centered upon divine 
things, pressed their way up Zion's Hill. That glorious 
way seemed to grow brighter and brighter unto the 
perfect day. Every step of the way seemed to be 
paved with the glittering stones of divine promise, 
and all seemed to feel sure of final triumph. There 
came echoing down from the mountain side the voices 
of victory and shouts of glory. The whole mountain 
side, as far as the eye could reach was filled with a 
stream of triumphant and joyful pilgrims pressing on 
to the celestial city. As their songs of praise and 
shouts of triumph echoed through the holiness moun- 
tain it was like unto the voice of a mighty conquering 
army. 

But, alas, some poor tempted and deluded pilgrims, 
after reaching Mount Regeneration, were seen to turn 

130 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 131 

to the left and enter the valley of doubt and ere long 
returned to the plains of sin. Many others, influenced 
by Satan and the love of the world, soon wandered off 
into the plain of formality. I was amazed to see how 
many pilgrims who had received a glorious religious 
experience on Mount Regeneration were content to 
settle down in the plains of formality and made but 
little further efforts to reach the celestial city. So 
greatly was my heart moved at their indifference that 
I bestirred myself greatly in efforts to rescue them 
from the plains of formality. 

To my astonishment I found many card-playing 
pilgrims in the plains of formality, and I was amazed 
to know that they had been brought there by the exam- 
ple and teachings of their parents and religious teach- 
ers. I never could understand how any Christian 
could have the heart to use his influence to so turn 
the pilgrim from the narrow way into the plain of 
formality and worldliness. 

The folly of such a practice was forcibly illustrated 
by the experience of a fellow pilgrim, whose name was 
Jim Dandy. After being rescued, he said : "Love of 
worldly amusements has been the mistake of my life. 
I liked gay society, and was bent on having a good 
time. I grew up in the church, but never claimed to 
be converted. My mother had me baptized when a 
child, and I was taught to believe that I was a member 
of the church. But I proposed to have something to 
say about that myself and intended to have my rights 
regardless of the church. 

"Card-playing was my delight from childhood. My 
mother believed in it, and it was the chief amusement 
of the home. While my mother was a member of the 
church, she did not work much in it. She was a 



132 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

"retired Christian." She said she did enough when 
she was young, and now as the young people had come 
to the front and were having all kinds of meetings and 
societies she could take a back seat, and they might 
run it. She often had dances and card parties at our 
home, and she was about as good at cards and dancing 
as any of us. She took that means of keeping us at 
home and preventing us going off into bad company. 
Of course we children thought these things were all 
right and no harm at all, because mother said so. We 
never heard anything to the contrary until one day a 
young preacher and his wife came to our house for 
dinner. After dinner we got our cards out, as was our 
custom when we had company. Mother asked the 
preacher and his wife to join us in a social game. He 
hesitated a little, but finally said, 'It is my custom to 
pray in the families I visit and to ask the blessing of 
God on everything I do. Suppose we have a word of 
prayer first, asking the blessing of God upon the 
game.' Mother was shocked. She said, 'Parson, I 
never heard of such a thing in my life. Why should 
you make such a request as that ?' The young preach- 
er said, 'I never engage in anything upon which I 
cannot ask God's blessing.' 

" 'There is not one bit of harm in a social game of 
cards,' said my mother. Then she went on to tell him 
that she had the children play in the home under her 
care to prevent them going to gambling dens and 
saloons. As they would do such things any way, she 
said it was far better to let them bring young people to 
our home, where they would not be tempted to gamble 
or drink. 

"The preacher said he looked at things differently. 
He believed it was better never to let the children 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 133 

learn such things, then they would have no desire to 
play, but if they learned in the home, then they would 
go to the saloons and gambling dens to find associates, 
and would soon learn to gamble and drink. 

" 'No, indeed/ said my mother ; 'they will be satisfied 
at home. My children all play, but they never think of 
going away from home or gambling.' If mother had 
only known it, every tackey of us was at that time a 
full-fledged gambler. But we did that on the sly. I 
knew every word the preacher said was true, but of 
course I kept mum. The preacher kept very calm, but 
my mother got excited and began to give him her opin- 
ion of preachers in general. She told him she had 
come to the conclusion that they were almost all hypo- 
crites, and as proof of her assertion cited a late article 
in the town paper. 

"The preacher said, 'Yes, Mrs. Murphy, I saw the 
article. It was a story, a professional novel, and did 
not pretend to be a statement of facts. The reason 
you think the preachers are so bad these days is be- 
cause if one does wrong all the secular papers glory 
in publishing his wrongdoings, while in olden times 
you never heard of such things beyond a very small 
circle.' 

» "Mother declared she had no confidence in any of 
the preachers, which was a polite way of telling him 
he was a hypocrite. I said to myself : 'Pitch into him, 
mother; give him a good round, for you may never 
get another chance.' You may guess the parson and 
his wife got away about as quick as they well could and 
never returned. But he had been there long enough 
to wake me up on the card-playing business. I saw 
very plainly that mother's fine theories about such 
things were all wrong. I felt that I was at that very 



134 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

time a confirmed gambler and I saw a drunkard's grave 
before me, and it was all the result of mother's teach- 
ings. Had not the young people's societies been organ- 
ized and their influence been thrown around me for 
good, it is probable I would have been ruined for life. 
I joined the Christian Endeavor Society at once. It 
was through their influence that I changed my mind 
about preachers and card-playing, and today am per- 
mitted to warn others against the evils of card-play- 
ing." 

Jim Dandy's experience did much to rescue card- 
playing Christians from the plains of formality. 

I found the dance house was the cause of many pil- 
grims turning from the narrow way to the plains of 
formality and from there back to the plains of sin. I 
also found worldly minded Christian parents were 
largely responsible for these evils. 

The experience of Dancing Dora illustrated this fact, 
also the fact that a dancing Christian can have but 
little influence for good. I give her experience in her 
own words, for the benefit of fellow pilgrims. 

She said : "My mistake was that of trying to be a 
dancing Christian. It was not surprising that I should 
make such a mistake, for my mother before me was 
that kind. I began to take dancing lessons when quite 
young, and grew up to think there was no harm in it. 
I was taught that the public ball was horrible, but the 
social dance was perfectly harmless. Mother claimed 
that the best way to keep children from going off with 
the 'common herd' was to have dances at home, permit- 
ting young people to come and have their fun under 
her own watchful care. The parson always told her if 
she did not teach us children to dance we would never 
think of such things, but after she had taught us she 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 135 

would find it impossible to control us and prevent our 
dancing with whom we pleased and whenever we 
pleased. She found from experience that he was right 
about that. 

"I did not join the church until I was a good, big 
girl. When all my associates became religious, I con- 
cluded to join the church, too. I thought it would be 
real nice, for you know all 'our set' wanted to be to- 
gether. A few days after I joined the church Sister 
Mary, one of my dearest girl friends, came to me and 
said : 'Dora, what are you going to do about your danc- 
ing now? You know it is against the rules of the 
church to dance.' I said : 'Sister Mary, do you think I 
am going to give up all my pleasure and fun just to 
please the church? No, indeed, I'll not do it. I can be a 
Christian and dance all I please. Mother is a member 
of the church, and she says it's no harm at all. I think, 
Mary, you are real foolish to give up dancing because 
you joined the church. You and I used to have such 
good times at dancing parties.' 

"Mary said : 'Well, for my part I have no desire to 
dance, and have not had since the night I was con- 
verted. Religion took away all desire for such things, 
and I would not go to a ball now if the church did not 
object to it.' 

"I said : 'Well, Mary, I guess you must have more 
religion than I have got. I never felt any particular 
religious experience. I feel just as I have always felt 
and shall enjoy a nice "hop" as well as ever. I don't 
think dancing is going to hurt me or anybody else.' 

"A few weeks after that I changed my mind as to 
the effect it might have on others. A revival meeting 
was going on and some of the girls asked me to go and 



136 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

talk to a 'gentleman friend' and urge him to join the 
church. I did so, and what do you think ! He turned 
on me and said : 'A few weeks ago you invited me to a 
dance and it was your influence that caused me to go. 
It has brought on me no little trouble, and I blame you 
for it all. I have no confidence in such dancing Chris- 
tians.' 

"I was so shocked I thought I would die, and I told 
the girls they would not get me to try that again. 

"That same winter there was a big ball over at 
Mooney's tavern and a lot of 'our set' went over there. 
There was a big crowd present, part of whom were 
strangers who lodged that night at the tavern. Among 
these was an old preacher who was traveling through 
the country and stopped there, not knowing there was 
to be a dance there that night. After the dancing 
commenced we noticed that he did not run, but sat 
there silent in the corner, looking, as father used to say, 
'like a poor boy at a corn shucking.' That kind of per- 
formance evidently did not please him. Some of the 
girls said: 'Miss Dora, why don't you ask him to 
dance ?' I said for a nickel I would. They said, 'You 
dare not do it.' I said, T will, too,' and with that I 
rushed up to him and politely requested the pleasure of 
dancing with him. Of course I had no idea he would 
accept. You can imagine my surprise when he said: 
'Yes, madam, I accept with great pleasure.' As he said 
that he arose and took hold of my hands. 

"What on earth could I do ? I assumed great bold- 
ness and we took positions ready for the dance, when 
he said: 'Wait a minute; it is my custom to ask the 
blessing of God on all that I do. Let us all kneel in 
prayer.' With that he fell upon his knees and began 
to pray, still holding to my hands. I tried to break 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 137 

loose from him, but my hands were as though they 
were fast in a vise. Never in all my days did I hear 
such a prayer as that man made. He seemed almost 
to bring heaven down to earth. I began to feel an 
awful burden of sin, and did my utmost to release my- 
self from his grasp, but he held on like he was holding 
a pig instead of a high-toned lady. 

"The power of God came down and the dancers 
began to fall and pray for mercy all over the house. 
I doubt if such another scene was ever witnessed on 
earth. We were suddenly in the midst of a great 
revival, at which more than a dozen souls were in- 
stantly converted, and I was one of that number. The 
dance was broken up and religious services took its 
place. I was then convinced that praying and danc- 
ing did not go together. If we dancers could not face 
one praying man, how could we stand before all the 
saints and angels of heaven? Ever since that night I 
have been raising my voice against dancing Christians 
and urging people not to make the mistake I made." 

Dancing Dora's experience was very helpful in stem- 
ming the tide of worldliness in the church, and pre- 
venting pilgrims turning aside into the plains of for- 
mality. 

I also found the playhouse a great means of turning 
pilgrims from the way of life. Theater-going pilgrims 
were quite numerous in the plains of formality and it 
was very difficult to rescue them. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

The first time I saw the devil, after my conversion, 
was when I came in my journey to what is known as 
the Vale of Distrust. That is a slight depression in 
the mountain of holiness, over which most pilgrims 
pass early in their pilgrimage. I was so surprised to 
see so great a throng of pilgrims there. It seemed 
to me that they were from every nation under 
heaven. Many had tarried there for weeks and 
months. I was wondering why they did so, when 
the devil appeared to me and tempted me also to tarry. 
He said it was possible that I had been deceived in 
supposing that I was converted. He said it was all 
excitement. 

I said : "Get thee behind me, Satan. Glory to God, 
I am saved from all sin and I know it. There is 
no guess work about it. Praise the Lord, I know I am 
saved. My soul is washed and made pure through the 
blood of the Lamb. If this is excitement it came from 
heaven, and may the Lord give me more of it. I have 
been excited on other subjects, such as politics, busi- 
ness, etc., but that has passed away. Glory to God, 

138 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 139 

this does not pass away. I have been a Christian more 
than a year, and this heavenly excitement produced 
by the indwelling Spirit is still with me, just as it was 
the day I was converted. That is one of your old 
tricks ; you have fooled thousands with it, and got 
them back into your service. You are very crafty and 
shrewd in your plans to destroy the confidence of 
pilgrims in their conversion. 

"If I had not shouted, you would have told me I was 
not converted because I was not shouting happy like 
others. That is the way you talked to thousands, who 
are not so happy when converted, and by that means 
you got them back into your service. And now when 
I am made shouting happy in conversion, you tell me I 
am not saved, it is all excitement. It matters not what 
a pilgrim's experience is, you find some means of 
tempting him to doubt his conversion." 

When the devil could not make me believe that I 
was never converted he tried to make me believe that 
I had backslid. He said, "You are not happy all the 
time like you used to be, are you?" 

I said, "No, I am not shouting happy all the time 
like I was when I was converted." 

"Well," said he, "you are not right with God, or you 
would be happy and praising God all the time. Don't 
you remember you have heard Christians say that a 
flood of glory filled their hearts all the time, and that 
the sacred fire flashed from their heads to the soles of 
their feet, from the day of their conversion?" 

i said, I had heard such things, but I think such 
Christians unintentionally exaggerate. They doubt- 
less are often very happy for a long time, but, with all 
of them, there comes a time of religious depression 
and temptations ; and such trials and temptations are 



140 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

best for them to discipline and strengthen them. If 
it were not so God would not have said, "Blessed is the 
man that endureth temptations." Ever since I was 
converted I have felt peace with God, and often been 
filled with joy. 

God promises that our peace shall be as a river, but 
he does not promise that our joy shall be perpetual. 
If I was as happy all the time as I was when converted, 
my poor mother might starve to death, for I would 
be unfit for business. We are to live by faith and 
not by feeling. The joyful feelings are not essential, 
but are thrown in for good measure. You cannot 
make me believe I have backslid, simply because I am 
not shouting happy all the time. Bless the Lord I 
know he saves me, and I am determined to resist all 
temptations to doubt or sin. 

"Young man," said the devil, "don't set your 
standard too high, or you may not be able to live up 
to it, then you will disgrace the church. No man can 
live without sin." I said, "Of myself, I can do nothing, 
but by the grace of God I am determined to live with- 
out sin." "You cannot do it," said the devil; "no man 
has ever lived without sin." 

I said, "That may be true, but they could have lived 
without sin, and if they do not it is their own fault." 

I took my guide-book from my bosom and read these 
words : "For I am persuaded that neither death, nor 
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor 
things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor 
depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate 
us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our 
Lord." (Rom. VIII, 38-9.) "But God is faithful, who 
will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are 






THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 141 

able ; but will with the temptation also make a way to 
escape, that ye may be able to bear it." (I. Cor. X, 13.) 
While I was yet reading Sister Eva (a pilgrim who 
had started for glory just about the time I did) ap- 
peared, saying, "Brother pilgrim, take no heed to this 
temptation of Satan ; I know right well it is one of his 
well laid schemes to get you back into his service. My 
great mistake was that of supposing that I could not 
help sinning after conversion. When I first began re- 
ligious life I did not believe that, but after a few 
months' experience in which I had many temptations 
to sin, I came to the conclusion there was no use in 
trying. I thought everybody sinned after conversion, 
and as it was the common lot of all Christians, there 
was no use to try to keep from doing wrong. I was 
getting considerable consolation out of that belief, 
and making it an apology for all my wrongdoings, 
when Sister Addie called on me one Sunday to spend 
the afternoon and evening. Now, Addie was a real 
good religious girl, and she was amazed to find I had 
such notions. She said to me, 'Eva,' there are some 
very nice and pleasant things about your belief that 
you can't help sinning, for if you cannot help it, you 
will not need to watch, struggle against it or give your- 
self any concern about such things, for it would do no 
good. But there is one horrible thing about such a 
belief, that is, it shows that you are entirely in the 
hands of Satan, that he controls you at will, and you 
are perfectly helpless to resist him. If that is the case, 
of course he will take you down to hell. You need 
not think if he controls you at will and compels you 
to do his bidding, that he is going to escort you to 
heaven when he is done with you here. No, indeed, 
he will escort you to his own hot country. If you 



142 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

don't have power to keep from sinning, you will not 
have power to keep from going with him.' 

''This little speech of Addie's fully woke me up, and 
made me tremble at the thought of coming to such an 
awful end. But I thought I would be bold and I said, 
'Sister Addie, do you believe any Christian lives with- 
out sin?' 

" 'Well,' said she, T do not know whether anybody 
lives without sin or not, but one thing is sure, they 
can live without sin, if they will trust in God's assist- 
ing grace. They cannot do so in their own strength, 
but God had promised that we shall never be tempted 
above that we are able to bear, but he will with every 
temptation make a way for our escape.' 

"I said, 'If that is true, how does it come that Dr. 
Long, Elder Black, Deacon Morgan, Uncle Jake, Aunt 
Sue and all these older Christians never found it out. 
They ofter say, "We never get out of gunshot of the 
devil, and we will sin as long as we are in this life." : 

"This seemed to puzzle her; she got up, and, com- 
ing toward me, said, 'Sister Eva, it don't make a bit 
of difference what the doctors, elders, deacons, or 
aunties say; I know that the Bible promises that we 
shall have grace for every temptation. The Bible is 
better authority than the whole kit of them. Besides, 
it is not reasonable to suppose that God would give his 
Son to die for us, break the power of Satan in conver- 
sion, and then turn us over to the power of Satan and 
let him compel us to commit sin that would send us 
all to hell.' I said, T must confess that it don't look 
like God would give his Son to release us from the 
power of sin, and then afterward permit the devil to 
get us into captivity again, so long as we were doing 
our best to keep out of the prison of sin. 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 143 

" 'No, indeed,' said Sister Addie ; 'people need not 
say they can't help sin; they can help it if the/ will 
trust in God and try to help it.' If we cannot help doing 
anything, to us it is not sin at all. God will not punish 
anybody for what they cannot help doing. Sister Eva, 
do you think if your mother were to lock you in the 
closet, our teacher would punish you for not being at 
school ? No, never, for you would not be to blame. I 
don't believe God punishes anybody for what they 
can't help doing.' 

"I said, 'Yes, it looks that way ; but I have been try- 
ing awful hard to be good, and it just seems that I 
cannot help sinning.' 

: ' 'Eva, if that is so, you are not a free moral agent 
capable of being rewarded or punished, but you are a 
mere machine being acted upon, and are no more a 
subject of reward or punishment than a tree, moved 
by the wind. You are like the pendulum on this big 
clock, it moves because the clock's works move it, and 
you vibrate between sin and righteousness as you are 
moved by good or evil influences. If what you say 
about being compelled to do evil is true, you can no 
more be rewarded or punished than that clock pen- 
dulum can.' 

"I saw that Addie was right, but I was too proud 
to give up and tell her so. When she was gone I went 
to God in secret prayer, and asked him to help me to 
take Christ as a Saviour from all sin, and not have 
any more halfway work in Christian life. I was won- 
derfully blessed, and became very happy. From that 
day to this I have had a different conception of the sin- 
fulness of sin, and I have been determined to have 
Christ rule in my heart instead of submitting to the rule 
of Satan. I saw that I had made a great mistake in 



144 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

supposing I could not help sinning. That came from 
depending upon my own strength, instead of trusting 
in God to break the power of Satan in my heart. Ever 
since that I have been trying to warn the young peo- 
ple not to make the mistake I made. Brother pilgrim, 
you do not want to listen to such temptations for one 
moment. ,, 

I said, "No, Sister Eva, I shall always believe that 
it is possible for a pilgrim to live without willfully 
sinning." 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Sister Eva was scarcely gone when the devil said 
to me, "You cannot live without sin, for the reason 
that you are merely justified. Many people think that 
they are saved from all sin when converted, but they 
soon find out there is yet a root of sin in their hearts, 
and they cannot help sinning." 

When the devil said that I looked up and saw the 
pious four hundred coming across the Vale of Dis- 
trust. Their coming cheered my heart, for I thought 
they were surely coming to help me resist the tempta- 
tions of Satan. But alas, it was not so. As they drew 
near they began to read their little books and gesticu- 
late and cry with a loud voice, but we could scarcely 
tell what they said. 

Then I lifted up my hand and interceded for my 
fellow pilgrims, saying, "O men of God, servants of 
the most high, we arc your friends, we arc pilgrims 
on the way to glory. Come and help us resist the 
Prince of Darkness." 

Alas, it was not to be so, for as they drew near they 
declared that we were yet sinners until we were fur- 

145 



146 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

ther advanced in our pilgrimage and had reached the 
state of grace they enjoyed. They vehemently de- 
clared they were the only holy ones, and they described 
our awful condition in many strange words, such as 
these: Merely justified, sin principal, seed of sin, 
Adamic sin, inbred sin, inherited sin, born sin, sup- 
pressed sin, anger, malice, envy, hatred and others too 
numerous to mention. 

When I told them I could not find such expressions 
in the Scriptures they threw up their hands and 
swung their little books over their heads in a most 
impressive way. 

I said, we are brethren, let us not engage in contro- 
versy or antagonize each other ; we have enough to 
do to contend with the devil. It was all for naught; 
they were bent on controversy, and began every man 
to present his particular belief and strive to make the 
pilgrims all adopt his notions. 

So numerous were their theories of sin and salvation 
that many pilgrims were so confused and bewildered 
that they knew not what to think. One class of pil- 
grims were disgusted with the whole thing, yielded 
to temptation to doubt the saving power of God in 
conversion, became sk'epical, and turned back to the 
ways of sin. I could see multitudes of such wander- 
ing down the crooked valley of doubt, which leads 
from the Vale of Distrust back to the plains of sin. 

Another class of the pilgrims were made to believe 
that they never had been saved from all sin, and that 
they could not live without sin, without some future 
work of grace, which they had no heart to seek. They 
said they had been deceived once, they could have no 
faith to make a second effort, so they wandered out 



i 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 147 

into the plains of sin. I myself was greatly troubled 
and confused. I had not the courage to stand before 
such opposition. It is with shame that I confess it, 
but I began to distrust Gods gracious cleansing power 
in conversion, and a dark cloud overshadowed my soul 
which, for the time, shut out the golden rays of the 
Son of Righteousness. 

At that sad moment I saw coming from the direc- 
tion of holiness heights one whom I recognized as 
Parson Clearhead. I ran to him, exclaiming, "O Par- 
son, I am so glad to see you ! I never was so glad to 
see a preacher in all my life ! I have been so tempted 
and perplexed in this Vale of Distrust ; it is a dreadful 
place. The devil has tempted me to believe that I am 
yet a sinner, and the pious four hundred came up and 
declared the same thing. They tried to convince us 
pilgrims that we were yet carnally minded, and had 
hatred, envy, malice and a whole lot of sins yet in our 
hearts. We are all dreadfully bewildered and con- 
fused, we do not know what to think." 

The good parson looked upon me in great compas- 
sion and said, "Young man, let not thy heart be 
troubled, neither be thou afraid ; I saw your struggles 
and knew of the dangers to which you were exposed in 
this Vale of Distrust and I have come to your rescue. 
I can fully sympathize with you pilgrims in your con- 
fusion and bewilderment in this Vale of Distrust, for 
I am fully aware that so extensive have been the theo- 
logical discussions and so contradictory the theories 
of Christian life that many of the common people 
have been confused and bewildered until they scarcely 
know what to believe. The religious faith and life of 
many of the best people in the church have been 



148 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

greatly unsettled by such controversy. These people 
who for years never had a doubt as to their religious 
standings and prospects of heaven have of late years 
heard and read so much that minnified conversion 
that their peace has been disturbed and their useful- 
ness greatly hindered. Satan is taking advantage of 
this confusion of mind to tempt such Christians to 
believe that they never were saved, and some have 
yielded and gone back to a life of sin. Others who do 
not give way to the temptations of Satan are living in 
constant doubts and fears as to their prospects of 
heaven. 

"Such doubts and fears do not come from loss of 
first love or from failure in Christian duty, but from 
the persistent declarations that a part of our sins are 
left in the heart at conversion. If the devil were to 
tempt Christians to believe that they would say, "Get 
thee behind me, Satan," but when such suggestions 
calculated to cause Christians to doubt the gracious 
work of God in conversion come from the pious four 
hundred, it is not strange that many good people have 
been confused and greatly disturbed in their Christian 
life. It has been one of the greatest pleasures of my 
ministerial life to point some of these bewildered and 
troubled souls to the abundant evidence of Scripture 
by which they may know that God saved them from 
all sin at conversion and prepared their hearts to enter 
heaven. In every case these glorious gems of divine 
truth have dispelled their glooms and doubts and 
caused these Christians to rise above these temptations 
and errors. Some shortly after met death with a 
shout of triumph in attestation of their faith in God's 
cleansing power in conversion. As we saw these souls 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 149 

rise above the confusion and errors that encircled them 
and leave the world in triumph, with an unshaken 
faith in their old-time conversion that saved from all 
condemnation, we longed to be able to lend a helping 
hand to such people on a larger scale. With this high 
and noble purpose in view I visit the Vale of Distrust 
this day. 

I said, "Parson, how does it come that the pious 
four hundred teach such unscriptural doctrines?" 

The parson said, "That is easily explained. They 
have been misled by those little books and made to 
believe that to magnify the experience they profess 
it is necessary to minnify conversion. They really 
think they are doing God's service in trying to make 
you pilgrims believe you are yet sinners, that the> 
may get you to seek the blessing they profess. ( We 
do not question their attainments in divine life, nor 
would we discourage any pilgrim going on and making 
higher attainments in Christian life. But what we do 
oppose is the foolish idea of some that to make room 
for a great blessing after conversion it is necessary 
to minnify conversion and rob it of the chief glories 
with which heaven has endowed it. It is not proper 
to rob conversion of its chief glory (heart purity) 
that we may enrich the blessing that follows it. Let 
conversion retain all the heart purity, holiness and 
perfect cleansing that Scripture attributes to it, and 
there will still be abundant room for future blessings 
as great as the heart can contain. 

The best way to get Christians to seek the future 
blessings is not to frighten them into it by making 
them believe that they are yet sinners, but we should 
cause them to recognize what a glorious work God 



150 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

has done for them in conversion, and urge them to 
praise God for that, and thereby they will be encour- 
aged to go forward and seek future blessings as the 
demands of their Christian life may require. It seems 
to us a fearful thing to destroy, in any degree, a 
Christian's faith in the efficacy of his conversion, that 
we may thereby induce him to seek a future blessing. 
Whenever the Christian's faith in his conversion is 
destroyed we do not know what the result may be; 
he may seek a future blessing, and he may get dis- 
couraged and turn to a life of sin and be lost forever. 
Conversion, the central doctrine of the Bible, the 
favorite child of heaven, stands alone in the midst of 
clashing theories in the arena of controversy. Who 
can blame us if we modestly enter the arena to rescue 
heaven's noblest child from those who would mar its 
beauty? Who can blame us if we bedeck it with the 
golden gems of divine truth, and present it to the 
world in all its original beauty and splendor that it 
may again be admired and cherished by the whole 
Christian world. 

I said, "Yes, Parson, you are doing a glorious work. 
Many a poor tempted pilgrim will bless God for the 
day he met you and heard your words of wisdom and 
cheer. But, Parson, pray tell us what about the two 
kinds of sin that the pious four hundred say is found 
in the heart of every man. I mean what they call 
'actual sins' and 'inbred sins.' " 

When I said that, the Parson laughed most heartily, 
and said, "Yes, I have heard about that a thousand 
times. I know they teach that God at conversion 
pardons all past sins, and also cleanses the heart, but 
only to the extent of "actual sins," so there is still 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 151 

some sin left in the heart. If that is true, man must 
have a strange kind of a heart after conversion. It 
must have two parts, one pure and the other sinful. 
It is a principle of philosophy that no two things can 
occupy the same place at the same time, therefore as 
sin and purity cannot be in the same part of the 
heart, and can no more be mixed together than oil and 
water, a converted heart must have two distinct and 
separate parts. Look at it, one part is pure, having 
been cleansed in conversion to the extent of "actual 
sins." The other is impure, corrupt and full of sin. 
The part of the heart that was made pure in conver- 
sion was formerly wicked and caused all the sins the 
man committed before his conversion. The other 
part, though sinful by nature, never caused the man 
to commit a single sin before conversion. (This they 
must admit, for that part that produced sin was 
cleansed in conversion.) Before conversion the part 
containing sin that is not actual sin behaved much bet- 
ter than the other, but after conversion it begins to 
assert itself and make trouble. It tempts the new-born 
soul to commit all kinds of sin. It acts entirely differ- 
ent from what it had ever acted before. Conversion 
seems to have made this part of the heart worse instead 
of better, but as the other part is so much better than 
it was I suppose that the heart averages quite a little 
better than it did before conversion. One strange 
thing about this heart is the fact that the part which 
was cleansed in conversion made all the sins in the sin- 
ner, and the other part makes all the "sin in the be- 
lievers." 

Such a heart is surely the contrariest thing I ever 
saw. The part containing sin that is not actual sin is 



152 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

quiet and does not make a man commit a single sin 
before conversion ; the other part is all this time doing 
its best to damn the man's soul by making him commit 
"actual sins." But as soon as the soul is converted, 
and the part that produced the "actual sins" was 
cleansed, and wanted to be good, then the other part 
aroused itself, and begins to make trouble, doing its 
best to send the soul to hell. It is no wonder we have 
trouble in securing the salvation of men if that is the 
kind of hearts people have after conversion. Who 
would care to seek such a conversion? 

I am amazed that good people can advocate such 
silly theories concerning God's gracious work in con- 
version. Those believers in imperfect conversion 
gather up holiness, perfect cleansing, baptism of the 
spirit, and nearly everything else in sight, and away 
they go, like so many brownies. Poor, converted man, 
they have taken away his holiness, full consecration, 
heart purity, baptism of the Holy Spirit, and left him 
nothing but a poor, imperfect conversion that does not 
save him from all sin. Not only have they done this, 
but they are now appropriating all these endearing 
terms, that were formerly applied to the converted 
man, to themselves only. Who gave them a copyright 
to protect them in the exclusive use of these terms? 
Who authorized them to tear these Scriptural expres- 
sions from converted men, run away with them, and 
forbid their use by all but themselves? Why should 
they raise their hands in holy horror and stop their 
ears if a converted man dared to say he was cleansed 
from all sin? If heaven says the converted man is 
pure in heart, will these people fly in the face of God 
himself and declare it is not so? 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 153 

Well, Parson, said I, these people say this belief in 
imperfect conversion can do no harm if it does no 
good. What about that? "Well," said the Parson, "it 
is doing untold harm. Yonder is a man who a few 
days ago was desperately wicked. His life was one of 
intemperance, profanity, anger, jealousy, hatred and 
dishonesty. His countenance bore the dark lines of 
sin, wretchedness and misery, being a true index to his 
inner life. That man heard the gospel message; it 
touched his heart. He yielded to its call and pros- 
trated himself before God, crying from the depths of 
his soul for mercy. In a moment, in the twinkling of 
an eye, that man is changed. He is gloriously con- 
verted. A sweet and heavenly smile is upon his face, 
his countenance beams with heavenly joy. He leaps 
forth, exclaiming, Glory to God ! Glory to God ! My 
sins are all forgiven. Praise the Lord for salvation ! 
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! My sins are all forgiven. 
That man's natural timidity is all gone, and he is bold 
and fearless in declaring what God has done for his 
soul. He pleads with his ungodly companions to turn 
to Christ. He grasps the hands and throws his arms 
around the necks of Christians and thanks them for 
leading him to the Saviour. Yesterday he hated them 
as if they were snakes ; today he loves them as if they 
were angels. Yesterday he loved sin; today he hates 
it. His appetite for strong drink is gone, his desire to 
swear is passed away. His angry passions are all dis- 
solved in divine love. His fear of death is swallowed 
up in a glorious hope of heaven. Pie can now face 
death and never flinch. One look at that man will 
convince the most rabid skeptic that conversion is a 
wonderful work, and that the change wrought in that 
soul is glorious beyond anything that human language 



154 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

can describe. Men of the world look on in amaze- 
ment; they see that there is a glory and an indescrib- 
able joy in conversion, and they would give anything 
in the world to have such an experience. 

At that very moment, when men and angels are 
looking at this wonderful display of God's saving 
power seen in conversion, we see followers of Christ, 
who believe in an imperfect conversion, coming to 
this converted man and saying: "You are not free 
from all condemnation. Your sins are not all gone; 
you still have a carnal mind; the root of sin is not 
taken out of the heart at conversion. You must repent 
again and seek another work just as you did the first, 
before you can be wholly saved. This converted man 
is wounded in the house of his friends. He does not 
see the danger that is before him. He gives way to 
doubts as to the efficiency of the glorious work of con- 
version. That joy passes from his countenance, and 
sadness and gloom are enthroned in its place. His 
hope of heaven has taken wings and flown away, and 
he now trembles at the thought of death. His shouts 
of praise have died away and are replaced with wails 
of lamentation and grief. His tears of joy are all dried 
up, and tears of grief have taken their place. This 
man is again prostrated under a load of sin and crying 
for mercy. We need not wonder that such is the 
case, for he has yielded to temptation, and committed 
the terrible sin of denying the completeness of God's 
converting power. What sin could be greater than 
that of denying the very thing to which he so earnestly 
testified in the happy moments of his conversion ! He 
then said he was gloriously saved from all condemna- 
tion ; now he denies that fact and dishonors God, who 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 155 

did so much for him. Poor wretched soul ! Well may 
angels veil their faces from the sight ! Well may man 
smite his breast and turn away in sadness ! Well may 
we as Christian warriors come forth and heroically 
strive to banish from the church such doctrines of 
imperfect conversion as certainly lead to such advise 
and such sad consequences, yet people will tell us that 
such belief can do no harm if it does no good. 

Instead of telling that converted man he is yet a 
sinner they should have told him he was a child of 
God, an heir of heaven, and encouraged him as a 
Christian to fight the good fight of faith. This would 
have saved the church from such a humiliating scene, 
and preserved the peace of the converted man. 

Well, Parson, said I, if we pilgrims were not saved 
from all sin in conversion, I would like for these peo- 
ple to tell us why we were not, when we so earnestly 
sought such cleansing? 

"Well," said the Parson, "some of them claim it 
was for lack of faith. Are we to believe such a the- 
ory? Is faith a standard for measuring the degree of 
purity received at conversion? No, never. Will ten 
degrees of faith take away one-tenth of a man's sins, 
and fifty degrees of faith take away half of a man's sins, 
and ninety degrees of faith take away nine-tenths of a 
man's guilt ? If that is the case, it seems to us that the 
merit that brings salvation is in faith, instead of the 
blood of Christ. 

We always believed that faith had no intrinsic value, 
but was simply a condition of salvation. Faith does 
not always come at our bidding, but it is largely the 
gift of God. The seeker of salvation exercises all the 
faith he possibly can, and if it is not perfect, we cannot 



156 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

believe God is going to give him an imperfect and 
unsatisfactory conversion, when he knows the seeker 
has done the best he could to exercise faith. Christ 
taught that if we had faith as a grain of mustard seed 
we could do wonders, but some of his followers de- 
clare our faith must be just so and so, or we cannot be 
saved from our sins. If a man has not enough faith 
for a perfect cleansing we do not believe God will ever 
begin the work of conversion and make a failure of it 
for want of faith on the part of the seeker. 

Again, some will say, if a convert is not saved from 
all sin at conversion it is for want of light, that God 
always cleanses us according to the degree of light we 
have. 

If that is true, heart purity is largely a matter of 
intelligence and personal environment. In that case 
our surroundings and education will fargely decide 
the degree of purity we shall have. A man who has 
lived all his life in the slum district, with but little 
Bible instructions, would have a conversion that would 
remove but a small part of his sins, and give him but 
little joy. The preacher's boy, who was well trained 
and fully enlightened, would get a more perfect cleans- 
ing, making him very happy. Is such a thing reason- 
able, and do we see anything in the conversion of men 
that indicates that such is the case ? We think not. In 
fact, if we may judge the condition of the heart by 
the happiness of the converts, we would often find 
experience to teach the very opposite. The men who 
have the least light in the beginning are often the 
happiest in conversion, and the most faithful, happy 
and useful after conversion. 

If we read Scripture correctly, it teaches that God 
does not bless man according to the degree of light he 






THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 157 

has, but according to the use he makes of that light. 
The man who had two talents received just as much 
as the man who had five talents, for the reason that he 
was as faithful with what he had as the other was 
with what he had. So it is today, if we make the best 
use we can of what light we have, we will receive just 
as much as those who make no better use of their 
greater light. If, when coming to God, we seek the best 
we can with all the light we can get, we may expect 
just as great a blessing in conversion as those who 
have been more favored in life. The same is also 
true of the whole of Christian life. 

It would surely be a great injustice to hold men re- 
sponsible for the want of light, when that is a matter 
largely beyond their control, and for which they are 
surely not to blame. We can only be responsible for 
our want of light when it is our own fault. It seems to 
me that we are forced to the conclusion that if a seeker 
of salvation consecrates all to God, exercises all possi- 
ble faith, and uses all the light he can get, prays for 
freedom from all sin, it is no fault of his if he does not 
get perfect cleansing. 

Let us then with great reverence ask the question: 
If the sinner is not cleansed from all sin in conver- 
sion, is it because God fails to do his part? If God 
fails to complete the work of cleansing in conversion, 
is it because he does not desire that the sinner shall 
be saved from all sin, or is it because he is limited in 
the power to complete the work. It must be one or 
the other. It seems to us that no Christian can believe 
that God, who hates sin, desires that a root of sin 
should remain in the heart of converted men, and that 
they should fail to get the purity for which they so 
earnestly plead. If God desires purity in the soul, the 



158 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

only question to be settled is that of God's ability to 
cleanse the heart. 

If God had not the ability to complete this work in 
conversion, it seems to us that he would never permit 
the convert to be deceived and made believe he was be- 
ing saved, even if he had to speak to him in language 
something like this: "My son, you want salvation. 
What kind of a conversion would you like. The new 
birth is a work of many degrees. Some are saved 
from half their sins, some three-fourths, some nine- 
tenths, but nobody can be saved from all sin in con- 
version. I am limited in this matter. Now what is your 
wish?" "Oh, my gracious Lord, Majesty of heaven 
and earth, Supreme Ruler of the universe, may I not 
now have salvation from all sin? Oh, I do so much 
desire to be made perfectly whole now." "My son, 
if it is your will, I can now save you from all 'actual 
sin,' but there are 'other sins' in your heart that I can- 
not remove until after your conversion. True, I am 
the Omnipotent God, I can do anything I wish any- 
where in the universe, except in this matter I have a 
certain limitation beyond which I cannot go." "Oh, 
most gracious Lord, Omnipotent Father, bear with 
me, I pray thee. I do so much desire to be entirely 
saved now, I am so tired of sin, I do most earnestly 
pray thee to take it all from my heart. O, my Lord, I 
now surrender everything to thee, can I not have sal- 
vation from all sin now?" 

"My son, I cannot save you from all sin now, though 
you are willing, and I gave my Son to die for you, I 
cannot save you from all sin until after you are con- 
verted. Then that work can be done, but not before." 

"Oh, my dear Saviour, bear with me once more, for 
Jesus' sake do save me now, make my heart pure, for 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 159 

I may die and go to hell before I can get a second 
blessing." 

"No, my son, I cannot do it ; if you die it cannot be 
helped." 

What do you think of that, Peter! What do you 
think of that, Paul ! What do you think of that, be- 
loved John! What do you think of that, angels of 
God ! What do you think of that, glorified souls ! 
What do you think of that, intelligent men! Is the 
Omnipotent God so limited? Doubtless, Peter will 
say, "No." Paul will say, "No." John will say, 
"No." Angels will say, "No." Redeemed saints will 
say, "No," and most intelligent men will say, "No." 
And above all the seeker of salvation will say, "No," 
God has no such limitation. If he has not, we can 
see no reason why conversion should not save from 
all sin. 

I said, "Parson, suppose these people should be 
right, and we pilgrims are not saved from all sin, in 
that case would we all go to hell if we die in our pres- 
ent condition?" 

"Most assuredly you would," said the parson, 
"there is no other place for sinners to go, and if you 
are really sinners, as they teach, you will surely go to 
hell, for you are unfit for heaven, where no sin can 
enter. It surely is perfectly plain that if Christians 
are not saved from all sin at conversion, the great ma- 
jority of the church of Christ will be lost. All ad- 
mit that without holiness no man can see the Lord. 
If the great majority of the Christian world ever get 
holiness, they get it when they are converted. They 
seek it then, they believe they receive it then, in that 
belief they live, and in that belief they die. If, as the 
opposers of purity in conversion claim, they do not get 



160 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

heart purity at conversion, and they never profess it 
after, how can they go to heaven? 

If men are not made pure in conversion, they are 
not fit for heaven, and where could they go, but to 
hell. There are but two classes of people in the world, 
the saint and the sinner, the holy and the unholy, the 
children of God and the children of the devil. There 
is no half-way state in which man can be half sinner 
and half saint, half a child of God, and half a child of 
the devil. If the converted man is not holy he is un- 
holy, and if he die he must go to hell. 

The great majority of the Christian church believe 
they are cleansed from all sin in conversion; they live 
in that belief, and they die in that belief, and if they 
are not saved from sin, they must be lost. Think of 
that ! Converted people going to hell ! Regenerated 
people going to hell ! Children of God going to hell ! 
Christians who are building our churches, going to 
hell ! Converted people who are teaching our Sunday 
schools going to hell ! Ministers of the Gospel going 
from our pulpits to hell ! The great body of the 
church praying for a home in heaven, but going to 
hell! Think of your pious father and mother going 
to hell ! Think of the three thousand converted on the 
day of Pentecost going to hell, in case they died that 
day. 

Think of the Apostle Paul going to hell, in case the 
string had broken that let him down in a basket from 
the wall of Damascus. They say, "He would not have 
gone to hell." Why not? He received his first bles- 
sing in Damascus but a few days before ; that blessing 
must have been conversion, and if that did not save 
him from all sin, where could he have gone in case of 
sudden death but to hell. 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 161 

There must be something wrong with any belief 
that drives men to such fearful conclusions, and com- 
pels them to admit such fearful consequences. The be- 
lievers in imperfect conversion seeing that their be- 
lief would compel them to admit that the great ma- 
jority of the church would be lost, have invented dif- 
ferent theories to evade such a fearful consequence. 
They do not dare to face the consequences of their 
teachings, and are constantly trying to find some theory 
that will make it appear reasonable for God to save 
men who have conversion only. 

The theory most frequently advanced, claims that 
converted people are cleansed from all sin in death, 
so they can enter heaven. The first objction to such 
a belief is the fact that it is a theory invented by men, 
and has no Scriptural proof whatever. They cannot 
find a single passage of scripture that teaches anything 
of the kind. This fact alone is sufficient to prevent 
any thoughtful Christian from adopting such a belief. 
Surely we cannot afford to follow men, instead of 
Scripture. Such a belief should not be accepted by 
Christians because it is contrary to Scripture. The 
Bible represents spiritual cleansing as being given 
only in answer to prayer. These people do not pray 
for a second work at death, because they do not be- 
lieve they need it, and if they did wish to pray death 
comes so sudden that many could not pray. 

Again such a belief is not reasonable, for it makes 
death necessary to heart purity in such cases. Christ 
is the saviour of the world, death is no saviour, it has 
no merit, and possesses no cleansing power. Such a 
belief is condemned in the fact that if God would re- 
fuse to cleanse men from sin unconditionally before 
death, he would also at death. God is unchangeable, 



162 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

and there is no reason that would justify God in re- 
fusing to save the soul at conversion, which would 
not be just as strong at death. The convert does not 
change, and God does not change. Both are the same 
at death as at conversion, and the same reason that 
would prevent heart purity at conversion, would pre- 
vent it, also, at death. 

Again, it is reasonable to conclude that if God will 
not save sinners from sin unconditionally (which all 
admit), neither will he unconditionally save church 
members who have sin in their hearts. 

Who could blame the sinner for continuing in sin, 
and expecting God to save him in death, if we teach 
that church members can continue in sin, and God will 
save them in death. "God is no respecter of persons," 
and surely will treat all alike. The fact is there is no 
evidence, either in Scripture or reason, for the belief 
that God unconditionally cleanses men in death. The 
testimony of reason and revelation are against such 
belief. Men would never think of advocating such a 
belief, were it not for the fact that they are put to 
great stress to find some way to escape the awful con- 
sequences of their belief that conversion does not save 
men from all sin. What do you think of the con- 
sistency of a brother who in one breath says that God 
in conversion leaves a root of sin in the heart, and 
does not give the convert heart purity, and in the next 
breath says that the convert will go to heaven, if he 
die suddenly. "O, consistency, thou art a jewel. A 
Opponents of purity in conversion having seen the in- 
consistency of such statements, have sought to find 
some theory to explain this inconsistency. They have 
utterly failed. No explanation has ever been made 
that is either reasonable or Scriptural. 






THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 163 

"Well, Parson," said I, "the pious four hundred say 
that all the great churches believe as they do, and 
that we pilgrims who differ with them are not loyal 
to the churches ; what about that ?" 

"That is the silliest nonsense," said Parson Clear- 
head. "They know very well that their belief that 
conversion or regeneration does not save the soul from 
all sin is not found in the published belief of either the 
Evangelical, Baptist, Congregational or Presbyterian 
churches, and as to the Methodist church, to which I 
belong, it teaches the very opposite. The Methodist 
catechism, authorized by the general conference, the 
highest authority in the Methodist church, confirms 
this last statement. On page 18 of pictorial catechism 
we find these words, 'What is regeneration ? It is the 
new birth of the soul in the image of Christ, whereby 
we become the children of God.' Again on page 116 
we read these words : 'What is implied in regenera- 
tion? That great change which God works in the soul 
when he raises it from the death of sin to the life of 
righteousness, creating it anew in Christ Jesus after 
the image of God.' Here we are told in two different 
places that the regenerated soul receives the image of 
Christ or God. If that is so, we must receive heart 
purity and be saved from all sin in regeneration. 

"The fact that the Methodist catechism teaches heart 
purity in regeneration is further demonstrated by the 
fact that it gives as a proof text these words of Paul : 
'That ye put on the new man, which, after God, is 
created in righteousness and true holiness.' (Eph. 
IV, 24.) Paul here plainly teaches that when the sin- 
ner first believes he puts on the new man, who is cre- 
ated in righteousness and true holiness, and upon this 



164 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

Scripture rests the Methodist doctrine of heart purity 
in conversion ; yet some of the pious four hundred 
have the face to tell me that if I believe it, I am not a 
loyal Methodist. I cannot help but laugh when I see 
them stand before such plain declarations of the high- 
est authority in Methodism and accuse me of being a 
heretic." 

I said, "Yes, Parson, that looks very ludicrous, but I 
suppose if they were to hear you say that they would 
come running with their little books and say: 'See 
here, Parson, the venerable John Doe says so and so, 
and the celebrated Dr. So-and-so says the same, and 
also some learned editors and authors say the same 
thing, therefore we know that our belief that sin is left 
in the heart at conversion is Methodistic." 

Parson Clearhead said: "Yes, brother pilgrim, 
that is just what they have said many times, but it 
does not make a bit of difference what the venerable 
J ohn Doe or the celebrated doctors, editors or authors 
may say, for they have no authority to change Metho- 
dist doctrine or dictate what Methodist belief shall be. 
They may have their personal opinions, but they have 
no more authority to change Methodist doctrine than 
the most ignorant plowboy just from the field. The 
only power that can change this Methodist doctrine, 
as taught in the catechism, is the general conference 
of the Methodist church. 

"If the pious four hundred can get the general con- 
ference to change this language so it will teach their 
doctrine of imperfect conversion, I must then believe 
it or I would not be a loyal Methodist, but several 
changes will be necessary : 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 165 

"i. The language of the catechism on page 18, in- 
stead of reading, Tt is the new birth of the soul in the 
image of Christ,' must read, 'Regeneration is the new 
birth of the soul in the partial image of Christ, yet 
containing some sin.' 

"2. The language on page 116, instead of reading, 
That great change which God works in the soul when 
he raises it from the death of sin to the life of right- 
eousness, creating it anew in Christ Jesus after the 
image of God, must be made to read like this : 'Regen- 
eration is that little change which God makes in the 
soul when he partly raises it from the death of sin to 
the life of partial righteousness, creating it anew in 
Christ Jesus and leaving it in the image of both God 
and the devil.' 

"3. Paul's language (Eph. IV, 24) must also be 
changed to make it a suitable proof-text. Instead of 
reading, 'Ye put on the new man, which, after God, is 
created in righteousness and true holiness,' it should 
read, Tn regeneration ye put on the new man, which, 
after God, is created in partial righteousness and a 
degree of holiness containing roots of sin and the car- 
nal mind! All the above changes in the catechism 
must be made by the general conference before the 
belief in a conversion that leaves sin in the heart is 
Methodistic. If ten thousand persons, high or low, 
learned or unlearned, doctors or dudes, should adopt 
these errors that would not make it Methodist doc- 
trine. Church doctrines are not established by the 
personal views of church members, unless they are 
clothed with the authority of the church and author- 
ized to speak for the church. 

"Brother pilgrim, you need not fear being classed 
as a heretic by the churches because a few of their 



166 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

memoers adopt this the greatest error of modern times. 
I learned the doctrine of heart purity in conversion 
from the catechism at my mother's knee in childhood, 
and I shall never dishonor my mother, my church and 
my God by denying the same ; no, never. Listen not to 
the teachings of the pious four hundred, brother pil- 
grim, but press right on to glory." 



CHAPTER XV. 

I was greatly troubled when I saw the great crowd 
of pilgrims who stopped in the Vale of Distrust and 
wandered off into the plains of sin, yielding to Satan's 
temptation to believe that they were not fully saved 
by conversion. Among that number was Sister Eva 
Hughes, whose experience I here give as a warning to 
other pilgrims. Eva Hughes was converted the last 
week of Parson Grimes' revival. A number of per- 
sons were gloriously converted; among that number 
there were none who had a brighter and more joyous 
experience than Eva Hughes. It seemed like she 
would shout all night. She did more than shout; she 
went back in the audience and pleaded with her asso- 
ciates to come to Christ, and it seemed like none could 
resist her sweet-spirited, angelic entreaties. There 
was a wonderful change in her when she felt that she 
was saved from all sin. Her natural timidity was all 
gone, and she was bold and untiring in her efforts to 
save others. There was such a radiant glory upon 
her face, that all were convinced that she had passed 
from death unto life. 

167 



1 68 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

Many people said: "If any soul was ever con- 
verted Eva Hughes is, for we can see her religion in 
her happy countenance." Little did people think that 
night as they saw her flying upon her angelic mission 
of saving sinners, that in less than one short month 
she would again" be walking in spiritual darkness ; but 
such was the case, and it all came from the unfortunate 
doctrine of imperfect conversion. 

She had not been converted long when the Tempter 
came to her, just as he came to Christ after his bap- 
tism, and as he comes to all converts soon after con- 
version. He tempted her to doubt her conversion, 
suggesting that it might be all excitement and that 
possibly she was deceived. She had been instructed 
in these matters, was expecting such temptations, and 
promptly said : "Get thee behind me, Satan," and he 
departed for a season. She was getting along very 
well resisting temptation, and had not entertained a 
doubt as to her salvation from sin. When she met 
Parson Grimes he said: "Sister Eva, did you know 
that you were not saved from all your sins the other 
night? The sin was not all taken out of your heart, 
and it will soon spring. up again. It is necessary for 
you to repent again, and seek just as you did before; 
then it will all be taken out. Come out to the meeting 
at the parsonage to-night and seek heart purity." 

Sister Eva looked at her pastor in amazement, and 
said : "What do you mean, Parson Grimes ; do you 
question my sincerity? Do you think I am a hypo- 
crite?" She began to feel righteous indignation that 
her pastor should insinuate that she was still a sinner, 
and needed to seek salvation, when he had seen her 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 169 

converted and knew how many she had led to his altar 
of prayer. 

The parson said : "O, no, my sister, I do not think 
you are a hypocrite, but nobody is saved from all sin 
at conversion. God cannot take away all sin in con- 
version ; that is impossible." 

Sister Eva said : "I thought God was omnipotent 
and could do anything he pleased." 

"Well," said the parson, "that is one thing God can- 
not do." 

Sister Eva knew there was no use for her to try to 
argue with the preacher, but she thought of the words 
of John and said : "If we confess our sins he is faith- 
ful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from 
all unrighteousness." 

That rather staggered Parson Grimes, but he recov- 
ered himself and said : "That does not mean all sins, 
but only actual sins, and the other sins are still in 
your heart and you will find it out." 

Sister Eva said : "Well, parson, I never knew be- 
fore that there were two kinds of sins ; some that are 
actual sins and some that are not. I have been studying 
the Bible in Sunday-school a long time, but I never 
found such sins mentioned in the Bible." 

Parson Grimes said : "Well, my young sister, when 
you get older you will be wiser, and you will soon find 
from experience that you still have sin in your heart." 

Sister Eva said : "Parson, I have great respect for 
your judgment in this matter, and you ought to know, 
but it seems very strange to me that you and the devil 
see so nearly alike in this matter. All the difference 
between you and him is, you would make me believe I 
was converted a little, and saved in part, while he 



170 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

would make me believe I was not saved at all. If you 
are right I am a sinner-saint and unfit for heaven, and 
if he is right I am no saint at all." 

The parson did not much like Eva's plain putting 
of the matter, but it was just like her, she always 
would blab out just what she thought, no difference 
to whom she was talking. Some of her friends told 
her it was real rude to talk so to her pastor, but she 
said it was no worse than for him to try to make her 
believe she had never been saved. 

When Eva got home that afternoon she went into 
the secret place of prayer, and told God all about what 
her pastor had said, and as she prayed she was again 
made very happy and came our praising God for his 
wonderful salvation. She was so happy she thought 
she never could have another temptation to sin. 

It was not many days until she again felt tempta- 
tion to sin, and to doubt God's saving power. She 
found it required the closest kind of watching to keep 
from doing wrong. This greatly troubled her, for she 
thought her glorious experience in conversion had 
taken away all liability to temptation, and all tendency 
to sin. 

Then Parson Grimes said to her : "Sister Eva, did 
not I tell you so? Don't you see you are not saved 
from all sin, or you would not have a tendency to sin ?" 

"I am not so sure about that," said Sister Eva. "You 
say Adam was holy and pure before the fall, and he 
had a tendency to sin and did sin, and so did some of 
the holy angels." 

The good parson did not know what to say to that, 
but he never let Sister Eva rest until he made her be- 
lieve that she was not fully saved. 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. lyi 

Poor Sister Eva ! She finally concluded she had 
been deceived at her conversion, and was still under a 
degree of condemnation. She afterward said it was 
no wonder, for the parson and the devil were both 
after her trying to make her believe that she was a 
sinner. She said the parson was happy over her de- 
cision, and she believed the devil was as near happy 
as they ever get in that hot country, but she was not 
happy by a big lot. 

When she was led to believe that she was only partly 
saved the Tempter soon made her believe she was not 
saved at all. She soon went back to a life of sin, and 
died out of Christ. 

Parson Grimes went to see her just before she died 
and tried to point her to Christ, but she turned away 
from him saying : "Parson, it's too late now ; I am 
lost, and it was your advice that did it. If you had not 
caused me to doubt my conversion, I would have been 
prepared for this awful hour." 

One would have thought that after this sad illus- 
tration of the evil of preaching against purity in con- 
version, Parson Grimes would have gone back to his 
old belief in a perfect conversion, which he preached in 
his early ministry, but it was nearly a year before he 
saw that it was a mistake to oppose perfect conversion. 
Such a belief brought him so much trouble and per- 
plexity that he was finally driven to investigate the 
Scriptural foundation for his belief, and was convinced 
of the error of his way. 

When the parson was convinced of his error he did 
all he could to counteract the bad influence of his false 
teachings. He came to me in the Vale of Distrust just 
after I was tempted to doubt my salvation from all sin 



172 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

in conversion, while the pious four hundred were yet 
present, and with much exhortation did he encourage 
me to stand firm against this temptation of Satan. He 
told me his experience at great length, which I here 
repeat for the benefit of others. 

Parson Grimes had been for several years a success- 
ful minister of the gospel, when he was led to embrace 
the belief that he never had been fully saved. It 
created a great sensation in his church when he first 
publicly announced that he had been living under a 
mask all these years and never had been fully saved 
before. 

He had declared hundreds of times that he could 
read his titles clear to mansions in the skies, and that 
he had no fear of death. How to reconcile that with 
his present statement was what puzzled his church 
members and others. 

The outside world was the hardest on the parson, 
and it was there his actions seemed to have done the 
most harm. Judge Honest said while he was no 
Christian, he had always been a great admirer of Par- 
son Grimes, and he believed him to be a very religious 
man; if he had been living under a mask and was 
under condemnation for all these years, he must have 
been a very bad man, and trying to deceive the people. 
The change in the judge's opinion of the parson had 
a very injurious effect upon his children, most of them 
had professed religion under the parson's ministry. 

Doctor Ross, another outsider who had been the 
parson's family physician for some time, was almost 
as hard on the parson as the judge. The doctor said 
there was no use in talking. If Parson Grimes was 
not saved from sin and prepared for heaven before, 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 173 

then nobody had religion, and there was no such thing 
as salvation from sin.. The doctor was disgusted with 
the whole affair, and never wanted anything more to 
do with the church. You could not very much blame 
him, for he attended the parson through a long spell 
of sickness when he was expected to die for days. In 
that sickness the parson was shouting happy in the 
face of death. He was perfectly rational and fully be- 
lieved he was going to die. He said it was all right; 
he was fully prepared and the angels were waiting to 
welcome him home. He bade farewell to his friends, 
and peacefully folded his hands and closed his eyes, 
expecting to wake up in heaven at once. If he had 
gone, as all expected, they would have all said his 
death was the most glorious and triumphant of any 
ever known. 

But he did not go, and after recovering, positively 
declared he had always had a root of sin in his heart, 
and that he was carnally minded all the time. Is it 
any wonder that his family doctor felt disgusted with 
Christianity and became skeptical? 

Jim Dandy, a young man who had great influence 
with the young people of the town, was harder on the 
parson than anybody else. He said that according to 
the parson's own confession, he had been wearing a 
mask and deceiving the people, and if he would do 
that once, he had no reason to doubt but he would do 
it again. He declared the public had no more evidence 
of his sincerity now than they had before, and if he 
was not trustworthy before, he might not be yet. 

Lawyer Blackstone declared he could never again 
have any confidence in the parson because he contra- 
dicted himself. He had heard him testify many times 



174 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

how gloriously he was saved and how he could read 
his titles clear to mansions in the skies, and how all the 
fear of death had been taken away, and now he pub- 
licly declared he never had been right, and never was 
fully saved before. "When witnesses in court contra- 
dict themselves," said Lawyer Blackstone, "we insist 
that their testimony is not trustworthy, and it must be 
thrown out of court, and that is just what I think of 
the parson's testimony." The parson soon saw that 
his new belief that conversion did not give heart pur- 
ity, and his statement that he never had been right 
with God, were destroying public confidence in his 
piety, and greatly hindering his usefulness. Among 
the evils of the parson's new belief was that of the 
division of his church upon this subject, which led 
to no little strife and contention. 

Elder Stikes, the parson's right-hand man, said: 
"Parson, it is a great mistake to make people believe 
they never were saved ; that they may be induced to go 
forward and seek higher attainments in Divine life. 
If you once unsettle a man's religious belief and cause 
him to doubt God's saving power in conversion, you 
never can tell what the sad consequence may be. He 
may seek to have the renewal of God's work in his 
heart, but he may get discouraged and turn back to a 
life of sin. He is far mere likely to do the last than 
the first. 

"There are plenty of people in our church today 
who never had a doubt as to their salvation from the 
hour of their conversion, but now they are bewildered 
and confused and full of doubts as to their prospects 
of heaven. They are living monuments of the folly 
of trying to frighten Christians into seeking a greater 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 175 

blessing by making them believe that they were not 
saved in conversion. It is far better to let them con- 
tinue to believe that they are in a saved condition, and 
urge them to praise God for that, and go forward to 
still higher attainments. Salvation from all sin in con- 
version is no hindrance to future blessings, but rather 
a help." 

"But," said the parson, "a good many of my mem- 
bers acknowledge that they have sin in their hearts and 
need another blessing." 

"If they have sin in their hearts," said Elder Stikes, 
"it is because they have not lived up to their privilege 
and have permitted it to enter their hearts since con- 
version. God took it all out at conversion, and if the 
heart has sin in it now, it is their fault, and not the 
fault of the work of conversion. Let them confess that 
they have lost their first love and seek a second bless- 
ing just as they did the first. But never let them 
commit the awful sin of denying that God saved them 
in conversion, that they may put the blame of present 
sin on God, instead of taking the blame themselves. 
If after the second blessing, they permit sin again to 
come into the heart, let them seek the third blessing." 

When the parson began his revival meetings, he 
preached and exhorted day after day, but sinners 
would not hearken to the Divine message and come to 
the altar of prayer. This greatly troubled the parson. 
He could not understand it. In his former revival ef- 
forts, seekers flocked to the altar, and were converted 
by the dozens. The parson was conscious that he had 
lost his grip on the unconverted people, and he could 
not tell why. He was very sure that he was more holy 
than formerly, and he thought he should have more 



176 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

power with God and man. Yet, it really seemed that 
he had less power with man than he ever had since he 
began preaching. He wept much over this loss of in- 
fluence on the unsaved. He consulted his most inti- 
mate brothers and sisters, but they could not tell what 
was the matter. They confessed that they felt the same 
thing, for they could not get sinners to come to Christ 
like they did at former revivals. 

The parson concluded he would get out among the 
unsaved people and talk with them privately to find 
their reason for persistently rejecting the invitation of 
the gospel. About the first fellow he struck was Sam 
Slick, a sharp, witty, worldy fellow who was a kind 
of "ring leader" among the young people. The par- 
son asked Sam if he could tell him what was the reason 
that the young people did not take an interest in the 
revival services, and why they so persistently refused 
to come to the altar of prayer. 

"Well, parson," said Sam, "I can explain that very 
easy. The young people have come to the conclusion 
that conversion is no good, and it is not worth while 
to seek it, as it does not save people from sin." 

"That is a great mistake," said the parson. "Con- 
version is of great importance, and they never can be 
saved without it, for Jesus said : 'Ye must be born 
again.' " 

"Well," said Sam, "I'll tell you what is the trouble 
with the young people. They always believed that con- 
version was all right, and it saved people from sin, and 
prepared them for heaven, until you preached that it 
did not make men pure, but just took the top off the 
plant of sin, and left all the old root still in the heart to 
make a man keep on sinning, and nearly one-fourth of 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 177 

your members talk the same way, and you declare, 
in nearly every meeting that you were deceived about 
your early Christian life, and that you have found out 
you never were fully saved. I tell you, parson, us 
young people have heard so much of that kind of talk 
that you cannot blame us if we did put our heads to- 
gether, and make up our minds to have nothing to do 
with conversion. We do not want to be deceived and 
disappointed ten or fifteen years, to find out after all 
that we were never fully saved, and then have to 
confess it publicly like you folks have. The young 
folks do not mean to be ugly and hateful ; they say that 
if they could get a conversion that saved them from all 
their sins, and have the trouble all over like people used 
to do, they would not mind to make the effort, but these 
new half-way conversions that leave people part sinner 
and part saint will not suit us young people at all. 
Parson, I don't think you should blame us for feeling 
that way." 

"You young people should not get such a gloomy 
idea of conversion," said Parson Grimes, "for it is, 
indeed, a glorious work ; it makes us new creatures in 
Christ Jesus." 

"Well," said Sam, "we judge it by what you and 
the evangelist say about it. You all say that the next 
blessing after conversion is a bigger blessing than con- 
version ; that it makes you much happier, and that it 
cleanses more than conversion does, so we all con- 
cluded that there is not much cleansing done at con- 
version, or there would not be so much left for the next 
work." 

"Well," said the parson, "we all teach that conver- 
sion takes away all actual sins, but there ar ' h< r 



178 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

sins that are not actual sins, which is the only sin that 
is left." 

"I must tell you frankly," said Sam, "us young peo- 
ple do not know what you mean by actual sins ; we 
think that all sin is actual sin. We have not got any 
poisons in our town that are not actual poisons, and we 
cannot see how we can have any of the poison of sin 
in our hearts that is not actual sin." 

This statement of Sam's worried Parson Grimes 
considerably, for he could not explain the matter sat- 
isfactorily to the young people. The parson by his 
conversation with Sam found out that young people 
did not sit in church, like a lot of young birds in a 
nest, with wide open mouth to swallow everything 
that was dropped down for them. He discovered that 
they thought and reasoned as well as older people. 
Poor Parson Grimes did not know what to do ; he saw 
that his new theory of conversion had blocked the way 
to successful revival efforts. When the revival finally 
got started and Billy Humes came to the altar, the par- 
son told him he could not be saved from all sin at con- 
version, he became discouraged, left the altar, never 
came back and died in his sins. 

The parson was in . great trouble and went to the 
evangelist to know what to do. The evangelist said he 
ought to have known better than to preach that doc- 
trine to sinners or seekers for it always made trouble. 
Elder Stikes laughed at the parson for having a gos- 
pel that he dare not preach to sinners. The good par- 
son quit talking to sinners and seekers about his new 
belief. When he called for seekers he told them that 
they could settle this whole question in a moment by 
surrendering to Christ; that they could come to that 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 179 

altar sinners and leave it saints. He said there was no 
use of people being two or three weeks getting relig- 
ion; that they could get salvation at once, for God 
could save them just as easy in a moment as in a cen- 
tury. 

When Parson Grimes said that people could be 
saved at once, Kate Himes made up her mind to go 
forward and have the matter settled then and there. 
Sure enough, just as the parson said, she was glorious- 
ly blessed before she had scarcely reached the altar of 
prayer. She began to shout the praises of God, and 
everybody could see that there was a wonderful change 
in her. She declared she knew all her sins were taken 
away, and she had such sweet peace in her soul, and 
such love for God and his church, as she could find no 
words to describe. She was happy all the time until 
the meeting closed and for a good while after. 

She thought because she was so happy that she never 
would have any more temptation to sin, and never 
could do a mean thing again as long as she lived. But 
after a while, she found there was still a tendency to 
sin in her heart. She had to pray much and be con- 
tinually on the watch to keep from some times doing 
wrong. This greatly troubled her, and the devil took 
advantage of this to make her believe she never had 
been converted. She resisted all such temptations, and 
did not yield to sinful tendencies. As the weeks 
passed by she kept wondering why she could not live 
above all temptation. 

One day she concluded to go and see Parson Grimes 
about it ; she told him all about her experience, and 
said that when she was converted she thought she 
never would be tempted to do wrong again. Parson 



180 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

Grimes listened to all she had to say, and then replied :. 
"Sister Kate, this is the carnal mind in you. You have 
some sin yet in your heart. It will be necessary for 
you to repent of that sin, just as you did of the other, 
and then it will all be taken out, and you will then be 
perfect, and will never have any more tendency to sin. 
We are having meetings at the parsonage for just such 
persons as you. If you will come and seek another 
blessing you will then feel all right." 

"What do you mean?" said Kate. "Don't you re- 
member when I was converted you told the people that 
I was saved and my name was written in heaven. You 
now say I was not saved from sin, and if that is so, my 
name was not written in heaven." 

"Well," said Parson Grimes, "I'll tell you how that 
was. Sister Kate, when you were converted you were 
saved from all actual sins, but there were other sins 
that can only be removed later in life." 

"But, parson," said Sister Kate, "don't you remem- 
ber you said that Jesus' blood washed all our sins 
whiter than snow, and that the angels of heaven were 
rejoicing over us. I don't see how our hearts could be 
whiter than snow, and still have sin in them, and I 
don't see what made the angels rejoice if we were 
being deceived as to our being saved from sin. Surely 
angels would not be so cruel as to rejoice over that." 

"Well," said the parson, "there was no sin visible 
in your heart then, for the top of the plant of sin was 
all taken off, and your heart did not show that there 
was any sin in it. But now you are beginning to find 
out that there was." 

"Brother Grimes," says Sister Kate, "how can you 
believe that God would deceive me and all the angels 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 181 

that way, if the sin was not taken out and I was not 
saved from all condemnation? Do you really think I 
am a sinner yet ? Do you desire me to believe that my 
conversion was a deception and a failure, and that I 
will go to hell if I do not have the work done over 
again at one of your meetings?" 

Parson Grimes said : "Well, Sister Kate, I don't 
think you are worse than other converts, but conver- 
sion does not fully save anybody." 

Sister Kate went to the parson for comfort and en- 
couragement, but poor soul, she did not find it. She 
began to feel so dreadful that she did not know what 
to do. She said : "Well, parson, why did you not tell 
us when we were converted that we were not saved 
instead of deceiving us this way and making us believe 
that we were all right, and on our way to heaven?" 

Parson Grimes said : "Well, Sister Kate, I tried 
that once, and found out that it was not best to do so, 
because seekers would not come to the altar if we told 
them that they could not get fully saved by conver- 
sion, and if we told the seekers that they would all 
leave and never come back to the altar, so I and the 
evangelist thought it best to not say anything about 
conversion not saving people from all their sins until 
after we got them into the church." 

"O, Brother Grimes !" said Sister Kate, "how can 
you be so deceitful as to tell us we are all right until 
you get us into the church, and then tell us that we 
are only saved in part. If what you say is true, some 
of your converts may die and go to hell before they 
find out they are not saved. I do not see how you can 
trifle with souls in that way." At that Kate left the 
parson, for she found there was no comfort there for 



1 82 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

her. She was greatly discouraged and could not tell 
what to think. She felt that it would be an awful sin 
to deny God's saving power in conversion, yet it looked 
like her pastor ought to know more about such things 
than she did. She almost felt tempted to give up all 
effort to live a Christian life. Perhaps the only thing 
that kept her from going back to the world was the 
sympathy and advice of Elder Stikes, her Sunday- 
school teacher. 

During the revival the parson's little daughter Bess 
was gloriously converted. She shouted and flew like 
a little angel all over the house pleading with others 
to come to Christ. No one who saw her that night 
could doubt but she was saved, for no child could have 
done what she did without Divine help. 

When she heard the parson's conversation with Kate 
Himes, she said: "Papa, am I a sinner, too?" "Yes, 
my daughter, you have inbred sin in your heart," said 
the parson. 

"Did I not get heart purity when I was converted," 
said Bess. 

"Well, no," said the parson. "You had a very bright 
conversion, but it did not take out all sin; you still 
have a carnal mind, and must have another work to 
save you from all sin." 

"Oh, papa," said Bess, "you do not think I will go to 
hell, do you? Don't you remember, you said that 
Jesus had taken away all my sins, and washed me 
whiter than snow, and that the holy angels rejoiced 
because I was saved from all condemnation." 

"Yes, darling," said Parson Grimes, "you were then 
saved from all actual sins, but there was a root of sin 
left in your heart, and you must have that taken out." 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 183 

"Papa, I don't feel like there was any sin in my 
heart. When Jesus converted me, he took it all out, 
and I was so happy, and I have never felt any sin there 
since. Besides, don't you remember you said the an- 
gels had written my name in God's big book in 
heaven ?" 

"My darling little pet," said the parson, "you are a 
good little girl, the pride and joy of my life, but I 
must tell you that unless you have that root of sin 
taken out of your heart you can never see Jesus ; you 
must seek full salvation and take Christ as a Saviour 
from all sin." 

Poor little Bessie began to cry and exclaimed : "Oh, 
papa, you almost break my heart. I know I did seek 
full salvation and took Christ as a Saviour from all 
sin when I was converted, and how can Jesus shut me 
out of heaven now ?" That night little Bessie went to 
bed with a sad heart and a high fever, and before the 
morrow's setting sun she was no more, for Jesus had 
called her to himself. 

There was sadness for many days in the parsonage. 
What added greatly to that sadness was the thought 
that little Bessie died with a crushed heart, caused by 
the parson's last conversation with her in which he 
tried to cause her to doubt Christ's saving power in 
conversion. Bessie's death weakened the parson's faith 
in his new doctrine, of an imperfect conversion, which 
left sin in the heart. His good wife said if Bessie did 
not have a pure heart she did not believe any Chris- 
tian ever had, and if she did not get to heaven nobody 
else would. She told the parson that if lie would 
preach against purity in conversion to others he might 



184 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

do so, but she did not want any more of that in her 
family. 

Poor Parson Grimes ! His troubles seemed to have 
no end. He never knew that even dead men could 
make preachers trouble, until after he began to preach 
his belief that conversion did not save from all sin. 
People did not rise up in their graves to reprove the 
good parson for so preaching, but if they had done so, 
they could have scarcely given him more trouble than 
he had over them. 

The trouble with the parson was this : He did not 
know what to do with his members who died without 
professing to receive another work after conversion. 
According to his belief they still had carnal minds, and 
a root of sin in their hearts, and of course in such a 
condition they were not prepared for heaven. On the 
other hand he did not dare to preach these good peo- 
ple to hell. 

His first trouble came when Elder Stikes died. 
Everybody said that he was the best man in the 
church, yet he had always believed that when he was 
converted he was saved from sin and prepared for 
heaven. In that belief he lived, and in that belief he 
died. True, he got many blessings after conversion, 
but he always said he got purity at conversion, and he 
began right then to strive to live without sin, not wait- 
ing for another blessing to enable him to do so. Some 
people get one blessing and then stop, others get two 
and then stop, but he went right on and never stopped. 
As soon as he got a blessing, he made that a stepping 
stone to another, and got higher and higher in Chris- 
tian life as long as he lived. 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 185 

Elder Stikes died in great peace, and Parson Grimes 
did not know what on earth to do. According to the 
parson's belief in an imperfect conversion, the elder 
must have gone to hell, for there is no other place for 
people to go who die with sin in their hearts, as the 
parson always declared was the case with such people 
as Elder Stikes. Yet, the good Parson Grimes could 
not find it in his heart to preach the elder to hell, or 
even hint that there was any possibility of such a 
thing. On the other hand he knew it would not be 
consistent to preach him to heaven. He worried about 
it a great deal, but finally concluded that the only thing 
he could do was to preach him to heaven. 

He took the text: "Blessed are the dead that die 
in the Lord," and he preached him to heaven as 
straight as an arrow. He had scarcely got back from 
the funeral, when, sure enough, here came some of his 
brothers and expressed great disgust that he should 
be so inconsistent. They said : "Parson, it was only 
last week that you told Elder Stikes that there was no 
use in talking, people did not get heart purity at con- 
version, and they must have another work to save them 
from all sin, and now today you preached the elder as 
straight to heaven as if he had professed another bless- 
ing after conversion. Such a thing is not consistent, 
and besides, it is calculated to make people satisfied 
with conversion." 

Many of the parson's most intimate friends were 
out of sorts with him for doing such a thing, and they 
made him no little trouble. The parson did not know 
what to do, and, that he might not get into such trouble 
again, he wrote to the evangelist and asked him what 
was the proper thing to do. The evangelist said that it 



186 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

would never do to preach good members of the church 
to hell, and the best thing he knew, was to preach them 
to heaven, but to explain that they were cleansed from 
sin, and the carnal mind was removed in death. He 
did not cite any proof that such was the case, nor 
could the parson find any proof in the Bible, but he 
thought it was a bright idea, and he was willing to 
adopt it if it would keep him out of trouble. He knew 
that a great many people would believe it just as quick 
without proof as with it. 

The next funeral the parson was called upon to at- 
tend was that of Sister Kate Himes, the sister who 
had come to him for advise on this very subject, and 
refused to believe the parson's theory of imperfect 
conversion. Sister Kate believed she was saved from 
sin at conversion and never would believe anything 
else. Well, the parson preached her straight to heaven, 
and then apologized for her having got there by saying 
that the root of sin and her carnal mind were removed 
in death. Now, Sister Kate did not ask for heart pur- 
ity at death, for she believed she ad it. If she had 
desired to pray there was no time, for she died sud- 
denly. Yet the parson thought surely he made that all 
so plain that he would have no trouble about it. But, 
bless you, his troubles were far worse than ever. His 
most intimate friends who believed the doctrine of im- 
perfect conversion said : "Parson, that will not do. 
If you preach that way people will be satisfied with 
conversion alone, and we can't do a thing with them, 
for they will say there is no use to seek a second work, 
for we can be cleansed in death like Kate Himes was." 

That sermon did not only bring the parson trouble 
from the Christians, but also from the outside world. 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 187 

Judge Honest said : "Parson, I understand that Jesus 
Christ has gone out of the soul-saving business, and 
death has become the Saviour of the world." Bob 
Ingals, a wicked old universalist, said : "Parson, I am 
glad to know that you admit that God saves men from 
sin unconditionally at death, for that is just what I 
have believed for a long time." Sam Slick, the ring- 
leader of the dancing crowd, said : "Parson, if the 
Lord took sin out of Kate Himes' heart at death with- 
out her asking, I guess he will do as well by me, as you 
say he is no respecter of persons." Old Uncle Jesse 
Boyd said : "Parson, I wish you would give me a few 
Scripture proofs of your statement that people are 
cleansed from all sin in death, as I can't find any." 
The parson frankly admitted that he could not either. 
Bill Dalen said : "Parson, I am an awful big sinner, 
and I want you to tell me how to get rid of my sin." 
"Go to God in prayer," said the parson. "Is that the 
only way," said Bill. "Yes," said the parson, "you 
never can get rid of it any other way." "Well," said 
Bill, "I heard Kate Himes' sins were taken away at 
death without her asking, and I believe I would rather 
wait and try that." Sister Hife said to the parson : 
"I want to ask you one question. If God takes away 
the carnal mind and the root of sin at death, without 
the asking, why will he not take them away at conver- 
sion when the seeker does ask it? Is there any reason 
for not getting heart purity at conversion, tkat would 
not be just as good a reason at death. If God refuses 
at first when purity is sought, why will he not refuse at 
death, when it is not sought ?" Poor Parson Grimes ! 
He got it "right and left," until he began to think dead 
people could make a preacher more trouble than the 
living. 



188 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

"Trouble! trouble! trouble!" said Parson Grimes, 
as he sat in his big arm chair in his study a few days 
after Kate Himes' funeral. "It seems there is no end 
to my troubles. I have had ten times more trouble in 
the last ten months that I have been preaching against 
heart purity in conversion, than I had in all my life be- 
fore. I have had trouble with my members, trouble 
with the world, trouble with the old, trouble with the 
young, trouble with the living, and trouble over the 
dead. There must be something wrong with this doc- 
trine. If it is God's truth I do not understand how it 
is always getting me into trouble with so many of the 
best people of my church. It seems to me that I never 
had any real trouble in my life until the last ten 
months, during which time I have been preaching this 
doctrine. I have always been successful in church 
work before, yet God knows I have labored faithfully 
and untiringly this year, and I can see but little fruits. 
Now, my church is divided on this question, and as a 
result, all church interests are suffering." 

As Parson Grimes thus sat alone in his study, re- 
flecting upon his troubles, he felt that they were more 
than he could bear, and he laid his Bible on the desk 
and knelt, telling the Lord all about his troubles, and 
asking for Divine guidance and direction in the future. 
When he arose from prayer, his eye caught these 
words of Christ : "No man can serve two masters. 
Ye cannot serve God and mammon." (Mat. VI, 24.) 
"Well," said the parson, "if that is so I guess I better 
quit preaching that the merely regenerated are under 
the power of Satan at the same time they are serving 
God, for they cannot serve both God and the devil." 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 189 

He continued to read. In Jno. Ill, 3, he learned 
that Christ makes conversion the condition of entering 
heaven, which was positive proof that all sin was re- 
moved in conversion. 

In Rom. VIII, i,.he learned that none who were in 
Christ Jesus were under condemnation, hence all sin 
must have been removed. 

In Jno. V, 24, he learned that Christ taught that all 
who believe have everlasting life, hence they must be 
free from all sin. 

In 1 Jno. I, 9, he learned that at the time we first 
confess our sins and are pardoned, we are also cleansed 
from unrighteousness. 

In Acts XIII, 39, he learned that when we first be- 
lieve we are justified from all things, hence we must 
be sinless. 

In Rom. VI, 22, he learned that when we become 
servants of God we are free from all sin. 

In 2 Cor. V, 17, he learned that when we come into 
Christ, old sinful things pass away and we become 
new creatures. 

In Col. Ill, 10, he learned that when we put on the 
new man we are renewed in knowledge after the image 
of God, hence we must possess the highest type of 
holiness. 

In Acts XV, 8, 9, he learned that people receive 
heart purity when they first come to Christ, as did 
Cornelius' house and the three thousand on the day of 
Pentecost. This was their first spiritual blessing, and 
must have been conversion. 

In Gal. IV, 6, and Acts II, 38, he learned that all 
the children of God have the indwelling of the Holy 
Spirit which excludes all sin. 



190 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

In Ephesians IV, 24, he learned that when we put 
on the new man we are created in righteousness and 
true holiness. 

When the parson read that, he said: "That settles 
it, men do get true holiness when first converted, and 
there is no use to deny it." 

Yet the good parson was slow to abandon his belief 
in an imperfect conversion and took down some of his 
little red books to see if they would not prop up his tot- 
tering belief. In them he read of the sin principle, sup- 
pressed sin, seed of sin, Adamic sin, inbred sin, inher- 
ited sin, born sin, repressed sin, and the carnal mind. 
These theories of sin seemed to comfort him until 
something seemed to say to him : "You just prayed 
and promised to take the Bible as your rule of faith, 
and now you are taking the theories of men." The 
good parson turned to his Bible again, but he could 
find no Adamic sin there, no sin principle, no sup- 
pressed sin, no seed of sin, no inbred sin, no inherited 
sin, no repressed sin, and he only found the carnal 
mind mentioned in two places. First in Rom. VIII, 7, 
where Paul describes those in the flesh and unregener- 
ated as carnally minded, having no reference to Chris- 
tians. 

The second mention of the carnally minded was in I 
Cor. III., 3, which referred to the state of some back- 
sliden Christians who were quarreling over the preach- 
ers, and living as men, and not as Christians. When 
they should have been men in Christ, they were yet 
babes. That sin described as the carnal mind had en- 
tered their hearts after conversion, as the context 
plainly showed. 

When Parson Grimes looked up from his Bible, 






THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 191 

after a vain search for support for his belief in imper- 
fect conversion it was midnight, and the clock was 
striking twelve. The parson exclaimed : "It is set- 
tled ! It is settled ! I am convinced of my error and 
from this hour I shall preach salvation from all sin in 
conversion." He then gathered up his little red books 
and threw them all into the stove, taking the Bible 
alone as his rule of faith. 

He again bowed in prayer, lingering until the early 
morning hours, and when he arose he was shouting the 
praises of God and praising his Master for a wonderful 
baptism of the Holy Spirit. 

It was but a few days later when he met me in the 
Vale of Distrust and I found he was going from pil- 
grim to pilgrim and warning them against yielding to 
Satan's temptation to doubt the gracious, saving power 
of God in conversion. 






CHAPTER XVI. 

The pious four hundred had scarcely left me when 
Satan said: "Did I not tell you so, don't you see all 
these good people say you are still a sinner. I knew 
you would again find sin rising up in your heart, all 
converts are fooled that way." 

I told Satan I fully admitted that I had a tendency 
or temptation to sin since I was converted, but I did 
not consider that sin. Yet even if I had committed 
wilful sin that would be no evidence that I did not get 
heart purity at conversion. If sin after conversion 
proved that it was not a perfect work, sin after the sec- 
ond blessing or any other blessing would prove that 
they did not give heart purity. All admit that men 
have sinned after receiving the first and second bless- 
ings, and all other blessings known to Christian life. 
All must admit that no blessing makes future sin im- 
possible, and if I sinned after conversion that would be 
no evidence that I was not fully saved at conversion. I 
may have had some tendency or temptation to sin since 
my conversion, but I thank God I have not wilfully 
sinned. 

192 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 193 

"Well," said the devil, "that which you call a ten- 
dency to sin is inbred sin, hereditary sin, born sin, 
which comes from Adam." 

I said, old fellow, you can not put Father Adam's 
sins on me, "Every tub must stand on its* own bottom," 
I am not responsible for Adam's sins, but my own. I 
could not help what Adam did and cannot be punished 
for his sins. I inherited an evil nature from Adam, 
God took that out at conversion. I inherited an evil 
tendency from him that is still, to a degree, in my 
heart, but it is not sin ; it is one of the effects of Adam's 
sins. There is a vast difference between the effects of 
sin and sin itself. We are not responsible for the un- 
avoidable effects of Adam's sin and it is all foolishness 
to call that inherited sin. 

So long as I resist that tendency to sin to the best of 
my ability I am perfectly innocent. Right here people 
make a great mistake, they fall in with your tempta- 
tion and claim that the Christian is guilty of sin be- 
cause he has a tendency or temptation to sin. Adam 
had that tendency before he fell, and yet he was no 
sinner. If he had not had that tendency he would 
never have fallen. Adam was no sinner until he had 
fallen, neither am I a sinner until I sin, though I may 
have a tendency or bent to sinning. It may be possible 
that I may never be free from all temptation or ten- 
dency to sin, but thank God I can live without sin. 
Glory to his name, he has kept me thus far, and if ever 
I fall it will not be because God made a failure in my 
conversion. 

Just then Tommy Ego, a fellow pilgrim who had 
trained much with the pious four hundred, came for- 
ward and, with a manifestation of much egotism, said : 



194 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

"No, brother pilgrim, that will never do. If you have 
a tendency to sin that proves that you are still a sinner. 
A mans character is sinful as well as his acts. All 
sinful acts come from a sinful heart, and surely a man 
is responsible for his character." 

I said, Yes, Brother Ego, a man is responsible for 
his sinful character, or sinful heart, but only to the 
extent that they are self-made. If he had nothing to 
do with the making of the bad character or sinful 
heart, and could not prevent the same, he is in no wise 
responsible. This tendency to sin is not self-made, but 
inherited. If these tendencies are sinful they are 
forced upon man without his consent, and he is not 
condemned, unless he yields to them and commits sin. 
To illustrate, look at my friend Tom, for years he was 
greatly tempted to drink, swear, steal and get angry. 
It was said that he inherited those evil tendencies. 
They came from his father, or grandfather, or great- 
grandfather, or Father Adam, or some one between 
Adam and his father, or all of them combined were re- 
sponsible for Tom's sinful tendencies. They came not 
by Tom's consent and as long as he did not give way to 
them he was in no wise responsible for them. They 
were troublesome, and Tom wanted to get rid of them. 
He went to the Lord, as all wise men will, and was con- 
verted. After his conversion there was a wonderful 
change. Tom did not believe in making any loud pro- 
fession, yet he frequently said that all desire for whisky 
was taken away at conversion and he never felt it 
again. Conversion in this case beat any "Keeley cure." 
Also the temptation to swear and get angry was all 
gone. But suppose conversion had not taken the ten- 
dency to sin out of Tom's heart, but he possessed grace 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 195 

enough to resist sinful tendencies and had never sinned 
after conversion. Would Tom have been sent to hell 
on account of so-called born sin inherited from others ? 

"YeS," said Brother Ego, "he would have been lost." 

But, said I, remember, he went to God for a clean 
heart in conversion and thought he got it, lived in that 
belief, preached that gospel to others and died rejoic- 
ing. 

"That makes no difference," said Mr. Ego, "preacher 
or no preacher, if the sinful tendency was not all taken 
out, he could never be saved." 

Is that so? said I. Poor Tom! There he is in hell, 
not because of anything he did, but because of so-called 
sin, inherited from some one else. Look at him, O child 
of God ! Look at him, saints on high ! Look at him, 
angels of God ! Look at him, blessed Christ ! Why 
does this man writhe in pain? Has he been a mur- 
derer ? a robber ? a drunkard ? a gambler ? No, he has 
been a preacher of the gospel. His life has been blame- 
less. He has led hundreds of souls to Christ. But, 
poor fellow, after all, he went to hell, because of a ten- 
dency to sin. A preacher in hell ! See the devils call a 
jubilee! Does not the church of God on earth look on 
in amazement? Do not the glorified saints in heaven 
drop their harps and bow their heads in sorrow? Do 
not the angel beings veil their faces from the sight? 
Does not the blessed Christ smite his breast and turn 
from the scene with a sad heart? Is it not enough to 
cause silence in heaven and cause the glory world to be 
draped in mourning? You may believe in such sights 
as that, if you choose, but I never can as long as God 
sits upon a throne of justice. W T c never can believe 
that a tendency to sin if resisted is to us sin at all. And 



196 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

its presence in the Christian heart is no evidence that 
he was not saved from all sin in conversion. 

Brother Ego had nothing more to say. Some days 
later something occurred that made me angry and I did 
a sinful thing. I immediately fell upon my knees and 
exclaimed, O God, I have sinned, have mercy upon me 
and blot out my sin. Immediately I felt a peace wave 
pass through my soul, and I felt that I was forgiven. 
While I was yet upon my knees the devil appeared and 
said, "Now I have got you. Did not I tell you that 
sin was still in your heart? If it had not been there 
you would not have done this thing." 

I immediately leaped to my feet and said, You old 
deceiver, you tempted me and when I sinned you blame 
God, saying he deceived me and had never removed the 
sinful nature from my heart. You are the one to blame 
for all this. 

"Yes," said the devil, "I know I tempted you, but 
there must have been sin in your heart or there would 
have been no response to my temptation. Don't you 
remember that is just what the Evangelist told you?" 

Yes, said I, you have deceived thousands of Chris- 
tians with this fallacy. There was no sin in my heart 
until you tempted me and you know it. Did you not 
once tempt angels? "Yes." Did they not fall? "Yes." 
Were they not holy before they fell? "Yes." I 
thought you said there had to be sin in my heart to 
respond to your temptation before one could sin. You 
admit that there was none in their hearts before they 
fell. Why not also admit that there was none in mine? 
Did you not tempt Adam ? "Yes." Did he fall ? "Yes." 
Was he not holy before he fell? "Yes." Then you 
must admit that you and the Evangelist were wrong. 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 197 

There was no sin in my heart until you tempted me a 
few moments ago, and glory to God it is removed now. 
God took it out as quickly as you got it in. 

I have always been ashamed that I committed that 
sin, but I have been glad that the devil did not make me 
believe that it was evidence that God left sin in my 
heart at conversion. To have so denied the cleansing 
power of God in conversion would have been a greater 
sin than the one I had committed. It would have 
shaken my faith in God, and, believing I still had a 
carnal mind, I would have expected to sin and most 
likely would have lost my soul. This is the great error 
of the age and is working untold evil in the church. 

When the devil failed to make me doubt the saving 
power of God in conversion he flattered me and tried 
to make me believe that the work of conversion was so 
glorious that I was perfectly safe and never could fall. 
I told him there was no blessing so great but one might 
sin after receiving it, that Scripture said, "When ye 
think ye stand, take heed lest ye fall." 

"How can you fall?" said he. "That is impossible. 
If all sin is taken out of your heart there is nothing to 
make you fall. You are as safe as if you were in 
glory." 

I said, Adam was holy, and yet he fell. Some of the 
angels were holy and yet they fell. 

"Well," said the devil, "did not Christ say: 'No 
man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand?' ' 

Yes, that is so, said I, but sometimes you tempt them 
and they jump out. God will not prevent that, they are 
all free-moral agents. While the powers of hell can 
not cause any to apostatize so long as they trust him, 
if they yield to temptation and choose to turn to sin 



198 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

God will not prevent that. That is where you get in 
your fine work, you make pilgrims believe they are per- 
fectly safe and can not fall, they cease to be watchful, 
fall into temptation and lose their souls. 

When I had said that, Sister Mabel, a schoolmate 
of mine, said, "Yes, that is so, and us pilgrims cannot 
be too watchful. The greatest mistake I made after I 
joined the church was supposing that I never could be 
tempted to sin after conversion. I had a very bright 
conversion and I shouted the praises of God for hours. 
I was quite sure that I had all evil under my feet and 
never could have any more trouble with sin. My ex- 
perience was so glorious it did not seem possible that I 
could even think of turning again to a sinful life. Sis- 
ter Ethel, who lived across the street from us, was con- 
verted at the same time, and she thought just as I did 
about the possibility of sinning after conversion. 
When we were together one day soon after our conver- 
sion she said to me, 'Mabel, I have been so happy ever 
since I was converted, I just think this new life is 
lovely. I know I shall never sin again.' 

"I said yes, that is what I think. It is not reasonable 
to believe that we could ever fall again into a life of 
sin, after such experience as you and I have had. I 
really think we are as pure as angels. 'Yes,' said Ethel, 
T believe that, in some respects, we are above the 
angels, for they sometimes have a tendency to sin, and 
some of them have fallen from their high estate. Is it 
not glorious to have such peace and joy, and to know 
that our salvation is assured and that we are perfectly 
safe? When I used to sing, "I want to be an angel 
and with the angels stand,"I little thought we really 
could be angels in this world, but it seems to me that 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 199 

now all we lack is the wings and we will get them by 
and by.' 

"I was quite sure that I was above all tendency to sin 
for some days, but one day mother and I we~e prepar- 
ing dinner and an old tramp came to the door and 
called for something to eat. Mother went to get him 
something to eat, while I mashed the potatoes. In a 
few moments she handed him some nice bread and but- 
ter and a slice of meat. He said, 'Madam, is this the 
best you have got?' My mother said, 'Yes, it is all I 
have prepared at present.' He sternly replied, 'I don't 
have to eat such as that,' and he flung it back at 
mother. 

"When I saw the bread, butter and meat scattered on 
our nice carpet, heard mother scream, saw her run, and 
saw the fiendish look of the old tramp, I felt something 
moving my right arm, and that big potato masher came 
near smashing that tramp's head. It was only with the 
greatest effort that I stopped that first impulse and re- 
frained from throwing it at him with all my might. If 
I had, a tramp or an angel, one, would have been 
whipped very quick. I did not sin, for I had grace to 
resist the temptation, but I saw that it was possible for 
me to sin, and that I would have to watch or I would 
sin. I had scarcely got my nerves settled when one of 
the neighbors came in and began to tell me a whole lot 
of stuff that Sally Ann Jones had said about me. Now 
Sally Ann never did like me. She was always jealous 
of me, and now since I had joined the church it seemed 
to make her worse. You never heard such a lot of 
stories as she had been telling about me. It just made 
my blood boil, and before I hardly knew it I said, 
There is not a word of truth in that. I wish that old 



200 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

hypocrite would learn to hold her tongue.' Then I 
caught myself and stopped. I said to myself, 'That 
don't sound much like an angel.' And I remembered 
that Jesus said, 'Blessed are ye when men revile you, 
and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil 
against you falsely for my sake.' 

"I got along very well until the next Sunday night, 
when my 'gentleman friend' came to see me. He had 
been there but a little while when he said, 'What do 
you think, Mabel, John Frinderburk is going to have a 
dance Monday night, and they want us to come.' 

"I said, Well, John, I used to go with you to such 
places, but I have joined the church, and it is against 
the rules to attend balls, so I must beg you to excuse 
me. 

"He said, 'You must go ; it would never do to refuse 
to go; besides, there is not a bit of harm in a nice 
private dance.' 

"I told him my conscience would not permit me to 
attend any more dances. -Then he got angry, and we 
had a regular 'spat.' He talked real ugly to me, and I 
gave him as good as he sent. He got up and left the 
house, and I did not know whether I would ever see 
him again or not. 

"John had not been gone long when Sister Ethel 
came across the street, came flying into our house, and 
said, 'Oh, Mabel, I am so glad to be with you again, 
you sweet little angel. I can't hardly live without you.' 

"I said, 'Ethel, I am no angel, not by a good deal. I 
have had more than a "peck of trouble" since I saw 
you, and I have had the hardest kind of a time to keep 
from sinning.' 

"Us girls 'compared notes' and soon came to the con- 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 201 

elusion that we were still liable to temptation and sin, 
and that it would require constant prayer and watching 
to live a Christian life. We went to the young people's 
meeting that night. The meeting was splendid and 
lifted us above all our trouble. 

"Next Sunday night John came back, apologized, 
and said he thought more of me for standing up for 
religion. Soon after that Sally Ann was converted and 
came to me and confessed that she had greatly 
wronged me. 

"Us girls are all getting along nicely now, but we 
are constantly on the watch against temptation to evil. 
We hope you will not make the mistake we made when 
we thought we were above all tendency to sin. Christ 
was tempted to sin and we are not greater than our 
Master. Well might Paul say, Wherefore, let him 
that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.' " 

I said, That is right, Sister Mabel, we will need to 
watch and pray as long as we live. 

When the devil failed to make me over-confident, so 
I would neglect duty, he tried to tempt me to distrust 
God and live in constant dread of torment. He said 
that half of the people who get religion lost it sooner 
or later. 

I told him I had put all my interests in God's keep- 
ing and felt perfectly safe, not having the least doubt 
about God's ability to keep me. He expressed surprise 
and said to me, "Come with me, I want to show you 
something." 

I went with him a short distance to the left. I 
looked down the mountain side and saw the plains of 
sin below. I noticed a small ravine that ran down to 
the plains. Along this was a footpath almost lined 



202 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

with pilgrims going back to the plains of sin. Some 
were already far out in the plains. Others were limp- 
ing along farther back. Some were fast asleep, and 
others lay mangled and helpless by the wayside. I was 
almost horrified. I exclaimed, my Lord and my God ! 
Is it possible that all these Christian people are return- 
ing again to the beggarly elements of the world? I 
felt as if I wanted to rescue them, but they were too 
far gone. I could not reach them. 

The devil seemed to rejoice in his hellish work and 
said to me, "Did not I tell you that you had better not 
be too self-confident? These people were all once on 
Mount Regeneration. They had the same experience 
you have had, and served the same God you serve. 
You see where they are, and you may go with me yet." 

I saw what the devil wanted. He wanted to get me 
into such a dread of apostasy as would destroy my hap- 
piness and usefulness and cause me to distrust God's 
promises, and then I would be led captive at his will. 

I said to him, How does this come that so many re- 
turn to the plains of sin ? He said, "I am familiar with 
every one of these men, and could tell you the reason 
why each turned away from the way of holiness. Yon- 
der in the distance is a man whom I made believe he 
was not converted; yonder is another whom I made 
believe he had lost his religion because he was not 
shouting happy all the time ; yonder is another whom I 
made believe that he was perfect and there were no 
more blessings for him, so he fell asleep ; yonder is 
another whom I made believe he did not get heart pur- 
ity at conversion, so thinking he had sin left in his 
heart, he expected to sin, did sin, and lost his soul. 
Yonder is another whom I made believe that he could 



THE DEVI LUN MASKED. 203 

not fall, and I got him in no time; yonder is another 
whom I made believe he could never succeed in busi- 
ness and be a Christian ; yonder is another whom I in- 
duced to believe the difficulties of Christian life were 
too great and he never could overcome them ; yonder is 
another whom I fascinated with the pleasures of life ; 
yonder is another whom I frightened from the way by 
the crosses of Christian life, and away on yonder is 
another whom I overcame by the fear of death." 

I said, Are there any there whom you compelled to 
go with you? 

"No, not one," said he. "They are all going back to 
the plains of sin of their own accord." 

I said, Well, that is just what I always thought, that 
if a Christian fell from grace it was his own fault, and 
no lack of divine support. When I turned from that 
awful scene I started on up the mountain of Christian 
Progress. It seemed that I could see just ahead of me 
the top of that mountain. But I remembered that 
when I started from the plains of sin I thought Mount 
Regeneration was the top, but when I got up here I 
found I was mistaken. I can see another eminence still 
above. I said, Well, I want all there is for me in Chris- 
tian life and I am not going to stop here, but I shall 
seek higher attainments in divine life. 

When the devil saw me he said, "Where are you 
going?" 

I said, I am going on to the second blessing. 

He said, "There is no second experience for you. 
You are at the top now." 

I said, You are mistaken. The way to holiness does 
not end here, it goes on up that mountain and I can see 
the pilgrims all along the way. He said, "There are 



204 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

only a few enthusiasts and fanatics, nearly all the pil- 
grims stop here." I said, God needs enthusiasts and I 
do not propose to let anybody outdo me in religious 
experience, if I can help it. If there is any higher ex- 
perience than I have got I want it. I am going on to 
perfection. 

He said, "You are already perfect. You got heart 
purity; why not stop here and enjoy it?" 

I said, Perfect love never stands still ; it is always on 
the move for God. It would die if it were to stop and 
stand still. That is what is ruining the church. There 
are too many who are looking for a place to stop, and 
when they stop they die. 

When I said that, Brother Ben, a fellow pilgrim, 
said, "Yes, that is true as the gospel, for I know it by 
experience. I did that very thing and I want to warn 
all the pilgrims against that danger. Never look for a 
stopping place. That was one of the first things I 
began to look for after I entered the Christian race. I 
do not know why I made such a mistake. The boys 
used to say that I was 'constitutionally tired,' a polite 
way of saying that I was lazy, and it may be that is the 
reason. I kept looking for a place to stop. When I 
was converted I found myself so far above the unsaved 
world that I thought I was on the top of the Mount of 
Christian Progress, and I stopped right there. I did 
not go a step farther for a long time. I thought there 
was nothing more for me. I believed I had all the re- 
ligion there was for me. I delighted to sing: 

'O come angel band, 
Come and around me stand, 
Come bear me away on your snow white wings 
To my eternal home. 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 205 

"But the angels did not come, and what was worse, 
I soon found I was traveling in the other direction. I 
got alarmed and determined if there was any higher 
experience in Christian life I would have it. I went 
twenty-five miles to attend a camp-meeting held espe- 
cially for the benefit of Christians desiring a deeper 
work of grace. At that meeting I received a wonder- 
ful blessing. I was very happy and shouted the praises 
of God. Then I stopped again. Now, I said, I know 
I am at the top of the mountain of Christian progress. 
All those people said, 'Yes, that is right, Brother Ben, 
you are perfect now. You made a mistake before, but 
you have got full salvation now.' You can't tell how 
happy I was at the thought that I had reached the 
top, and was perfectly safe above temptation to sin. I 
was as sure of heaven as if I had already been there. 

"When I reached home I went to the parsonage and 
told the preacher about my wonderful experience. I 
told him I was going to profess it boldly in the future. 
You can imagine my surprise when that preacher be- 
gan to tell me I was not at the stopping place at all, 
that I would never reach it this side of heaven. He 
said that business men might retire, but God wanted 
no 'retired Christians.' As I was leaving, he said : 'My 
brother, I am glad you have received this wonderful 
blessing, but there is a still greater blessing just ahead 
of you, press on to that, and then to another, and so on 
as long as you live.' He said Christian life was like 
climbing a mountain, a little ways ahead always looked 
to be the top, but when you got up there, the top was 
still higher up, and again when you reached what 
seemed to be the top it was found to be still higher up, 
and you continued to be deceived in this way. 1 did 



206 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

not want that kind of advice, I was looking for a place 
to stop. I did not like that preacher very much after 
that. I said to the members of the church, What kind 
of a preacher have we got ; he believes in the third and 
fourth and fifth blessings? I had got two, and did 
not think there was any more. While I went twenty- 
five miles to get the second I would not go across the 
street to get the third. Do you know what I did? I 
folded my arms and stopped, and before I knew it the 
devil had me. I thought I was out of danger, and I 
was not watchful and faithful to duty. I neglected the 
means of grace, lost the peace of God in my soul, and 
was in a good way to lose my soul. I went to God and 
did my first works over. When I again found peace 
with God I quit looking for a place to stop. I was too 
glad to get the third blessing, and shall never again 
limit the number of blessings that God shall give his 
people. But I am determined to 'press toward the 
mark of my high calling in Christ Jesus.' " 

"Amen, Brother Ben," said I, "let us go on to per- 
fection as long as we live." Then the devil exclaimed, 
"Man ! Man ! what do you mean ? Are you losing your 
head ? If you get heart purity and holiness at conver- 
sion what more can you want ? How can you go on to 
perfection when you are already perfect?" 

I said, I am a perfect babe in Christ and I want to 
go on to perfect manhood. I don't want to be a baby 
all my life. We have too many baby Christians al- 
ready. 

"That will not do," said the devil, "don't you know 
that Christian perfection is an instantaneous work. 
You never can grow sin out of the heart, and you need 
not try." 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 207 

I said, Old fellow you cannot stop me that way, that 
is one of your old tricks with which you have wrecked 
many a soul. I do not desire to grow sin out of my 
heart. Bless the Lord, he took that out when I was con- 
verted. Just then Brother Overjoy, a fellow pilgrim, 
came up and said to me, "Brother pilgrim, beware of 
Satan's temptations at this place. This is a dangerous 
place in the pilgrim way. This is a place where Satan 
by his wily temptations divides the church on the doc- 
trine of Christian perfection and gets the Christians to 
quarreling with each other ; and thereby he succeeds in 
getting many souls. He tells one class that perfection 
is an instantaneous work, and the other class that it 
is a gradual work, and when they get in a great contro- 
versy with each other he stirs up their angry passions 
and often succeeds in getting them all." 

I said, Brother Overjoy, I think that it is a shame 
that Christians should be led to strive with each other 
and be so deceived as to believe that they are thereby 
doing God's will, until the devil leads them blindly 
captive at his will. What can we do to prevent the 
devil doing this hellish work. 

Brother Overjoy said, "Well, brother pilgrim, we 
must, first of all, give the pilgrims to understand that 
Christian perfection is the result of both, instantaneous 
blessings and gradual work. It begins at conversion 
in an instantaneous work, and there are instantaneous 
blessings after conversion, also, there is a gradual 
work in the perfecting of Christian character. In con- 
version we have all the elements of Christian life im- 
planted in the soul that we can ever have, but we must 
go on and develop them in Christian life, and in that 
development there will be both instantaneous baptisms 



208 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

of power and gradual development of the spiritual 
man. The venerable John Wesley was right when he 
said of Christian perfection : Tt begins the moment we 
are justified, in the holy, humble, gentle, patient love of 
God and man.' It gradually increases from that mo- 
ment, as a grain of mustard seed, which at first is the 
least of all seeds, but afterward puts forth large 
branches and becomes a great tree' (Wesley's Sermons, 
Vol. II, p. 236). Paul recognized the same truth 
when he said : 'Therefore leaving the principles of 
the doctrines of Christ let us go on to perfection.' Heb. 
VI, 1. What could be plainer than this. The exhorta- 
tion is to leave the principles of the doctrine of Christ, 
that is the foundation work laid in conversion, and go 
forward unto perfection. Again Paul expresses the 
same truth in the following: 'Till we all come in the 
unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of 
God, unto a perfect man unto the measures of the 
statue of the fullness of Christ.' Eph. IV, 13. Paul 
here plainly declares that a perfect man is one who has 
grown 'Unto the measures of the statue of the fullness 
of Christ.' He did not claim that such a glorious work 
would be completed in a minute. But after he had 
been going on to perfection, and exhorting the 
churches to do the same, for nearly thirty years he 
writes to the church at Phillipi : 'Not as though I had 
already attained, neither were already perfect, I press 
toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of 
God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore as many as be 
perfect be thus minded.' Phil. Ill, 12-15. P au l here 
classes himself among those who were perfect, yet he 
pressed on to still greater perfection, and urges all the 
others who were classed with him as perfect to do as 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 209 

he was doing. Yes, in one sense, they were perfect and 
doubtless had been from the day of their conversion, 
but they were still going on to perfection as the years 
passed by. I sometimes feel like saying, Paul, why do 
you not get all the perfection there is for you at once 
and be done with it. That is the way many claim to 
do in this age. What is the use, Paul, in you being 
years in attaining a far less degree of perfection than 
these people attain in less than thirty minutes. You 
ought to hear some of these having a few months' 
experience presenting you as a seeker of the same kind 
of perfection that they possess. Did you seek it all 
these years and never attained it ? Do tell us, Paul, what 
was the reason. With all your inspiration and knowl- 
edge of Christ, it would seem that you surely ought to 
be as high in Christian experience as these beginners 
in Christian life. Was it because you had less faith 
than they had or was it because they get one or two 
blessings and mistake that for the fullness of Chris- 
tianity, while you only made each blessing a stepping 
stone to one higher and are never satisfied to stop?" 

I said, Yes, Brother Overjoy, I believe the most un- 
fortunate mistake Christians of this age make is that 
of supposing that Christian perfection is accomplished 
wholly by either an instantaneous work or by a gradual 
work, when, as you say, it is the result of both. O 
that pilgrims could but see their error and cease to 
strive over this question. 

Brother Overjoy said, "My pilgrim brother, the bit- 
ter feeling among Christians is far worse than you 
have any idea of. Let me read a few lines from this 
little book to illustrate that fact." Then he read these 
words : "That the Evangelical churches, such as 



210 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, etc., are fallen to an 
alarming extent, no one with spiritual illumination 
can fail to see (page 33). What an awful sight! A 
house crowded with idiots, and an idiot in the pulpit 
poking upon the poor idiotic people the senseless 
dogma, 'be dipped or be damned.' Great God, deliver 
us from unregenerated idiots, who by their intellect, 
learning and eloquence, lead great audiences of idiots 
through the churches to the bottomless pit. Such 
preachers will certainly reach the hottest doom of the 
damned. (Page 26). How awful it is to find regener- 
ated preachers stultifying themselves, making angels 
weep and hell rejoice, while they are so bamboozled by 
the devil as to do his dirty work. (Page 35.) These 
dum dead churches constitute Satan's highway of holi- 
ness, which he built along by the side of the Lord's to 
fool the people. He has fooled them by the millions. 
They have a fine time, as they think, following the 
Lord, while they are following Satan, transformed into 
an angel of light, passing himself off as the Lord. The 
solution of the problem is, dead men don't see any- 
thing, their vision is simply mental and illusory, as 
they are spiritually blind. They build beautiful church 
edifices, live in pomp. and splendor, and make a mag- 
nificent show in their Sunday services. They are 
charming people, exceedingly popular, both with the 
world and the ministry. They are very prosperous, 
and have a good time generally. There is but one 
trouble in the case and that is, they drop into hell as 
fast as they die. (Page 68.) I know but one unf alien 
church in the country. That began down on the devil's 
bottom, and, of course, had no place to fall until she 
drops down into hell." (Page 33.) 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 211 

When Brother Overjoy got to reading about all the 
churches being fallen, idiotic, bamboozled by the devil, 
dropping into hell, etc., I stopped my ears and ex- 
claimed, brother pilgrim, do not read that infidel book 
to me, I do not want to hear such blasphemy. 

He said, "brother pilgrim, this is no infidel book. It 
is a book on Christian perfection by one of the most 
prominent evangelists in the land." 

I said, Brother Overjoy, you surely must be mis- 
taken, that book has not the Christian spirit. In my 
boyhood I read the works of Voltaire, Tom Pane, M. 
Renan and Bob Ingersoll, but I never read any infidel 
book that said such hard things against the church as 
that book says. Surely the man who wrote that cannot 
be a Christian. 

Brother Overjoy said, "He professes to be a model 
of Christian perfection, and thinks he is doing God's 
will by abusing the churches, and minifying regenera- 
tion, that he may get pilgrims to embrace his theory of 
Christian perfection. A great many people who are 
members of these churches he condemns, are talking 
just as he does. They call themselves 'Out Comers/ 
and advocate coming out from the churches and form- 
ing a separate organization. They have their evan- 
gelists, and their books and papers are in the hands of 
church members educating them to believe such things 
of God's church, and when the word is given they will 
be ready to come out and form a full-fledged organiza- 
tion to propagate their peculiar belief." 

I said : "Brother Overjoy, is it not strange that pil- 
grims will go to such extremes on this glorious doc- 
trine of Christian perfection?" 



212 THE DEVIL UNMASKED, 

"Yes, indeed, it is," said Brother Overjoy. "Come 
with me and I will show you something of the results 
of such strife." He then took me to a little eminence 
in the highway where I could get a full view of the 
many pilgrims on their way to glory. At this place the 
pilgrims were dividing into three groups, some were 
going straight forward toward Emanuel's land, others 
were going in the direction of the plains of formality, 
and others were going in the direction of the Vale of 
Delusions. I said to Brother Overjoy : "What about 
these pilgrims who are going out in the direction of 
the plains of formality? Why are they doing that?" 

"Well," said he, "that comes from the fact that they 
have concluded that conversion and growth is all there 
is in Christian life. They never look for any special 
works of grace after conversion, and expect to get per- 
fect without seeking any special blessings of God, so 
many of them gradually drift out into the plains of 
formality." 

"What about these pilgrims who are going in the di- 
rection of the Vale of Delusions?" said I. "Why do 
they do that ? I have heard that was a most dangerous 
and deceptive way." 

"Well," said he, "those people are extremists. They 
believe in getting one giant blessing after conversion, 
then they think there is no more for them, for they are 
then perfect. They often become very radical and go 
into many extremes, and often become fanatic, wan- 
dering off into the Vale of Delusions and embracing 
Christian science and many other errors." 

I said : "Brother pilgrim, what do you think of that 
belief that God makes them perfect Christians in a 
minute, and that there is no more bleesings for them ?" 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 213 

"Well," said he, "if the time ever comes when God 
makes, from an acorn, in one minute, a full grown oak, 
a hundred feet high, we may then expect him to make 
a full grown Christian in a minute. When a farmer 
can plant his corn in the morning and gather full 
grown ears that afternoon, we may expect Christians 
to be made perfect in a moment, but not so long as 
we have 'first the blade, then the ear, after that the full 
corn in the ear.' Perfection in religion comes in very 
much the same way that it comes in nature. When 
Christ raised the little maid from the dead, he did a 
perfect work, but she was still a little girl, and it took 
years to mature into womanhood. So when he resur- 
rects the soul from sin, he does a perfect work, but 
the Christian must then go on to perfection." 

He then picked up an acorn that lay at my feet and 
said, "See here, this is a good illustration of Christian 
life. This little acorn is sprouting forth into life, the 
vigorous little germ has just broken its encasement; 
there is in this little acorn all the elements of this full 
grown oak, but these elements need to be developed to 
make such a tree as that under which we stand. Here 
in this little encasement are buried the body, bark, 
roots, limbs, leaves and system of vessels through 
which its life blood must flow ; in a word, the oak tree 
is wrapped up in this little shell, but it takes time to 
develop it. So it is, in many respects, with Christian 
life. In conversion God takes out all sin and implants 
in the soul all the elements of a mature and perfect 
Christian, but they must be developed to make perfect 
manhood in Christ, and such development is a life 
work. In the attainment of perfect manhood in Christ 
there is both gradual work and instantaneous blessings. 



2i 4 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

"These people going in the direction of the Vale of 
Delusions make the mistake of supposing that one 
blessing can make a perfect man in Christ, and those 
people going toward the plain of formality make the 
opposite mistake of supposing it is wholly a gradual 
work and no special baptisms of spiritual power are 
necessary. There is a happy middle ground between 
these two extremes, and those people going straight 
forward up the mount of Christian progress toward 
Emanuel's land are traveling in the only safe and 
Scriptural way. They believe that the Christian is 
made perfect by gradual development and as many 
special instantaneous blessings as the demands of 
Christian life may require." 

Just then little John Wesley Bly, a fellow pilgrim, 
whose face had long been turned toward the Vale of 
Delusions, turned and said: "Brother Overjoy, your 
brand of Christian perfection would not suit me for the 
reason that you have so many standards of perfection, 
when the Bible has but one. You teach that every fel- 
low has a standard of his own, and that each have dif- 
ferent standards at different periods of life. I believe 
in having one standard for all, and that is the Bible 
standard of holiness. If a person cannot chin up to 
that he had just as well acknowledge that he has not 
yet attained Christian perfection." 

"O, that is all right," said Brother Overjoy. "I in- 
sist on having holiness to begin with, while you teach 
that a fellow must wait for that weeks, months, or 
years. I believe, as Paul says in Eph. IV, 24, that 
when we are first converted and put on the new man 
we are created in true holiness. I believe in starting 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 215 

right at first and not wait months or years to quit sin- 
ning." 

"Well," said John Wesley Bly, "I cannot understand 
this progressive Christian perfection. It seems to me 
that if one is in a high state of Christian experience 
that is proof that when he was in lower states he was 
not perfect. I believe, as did my namesake, that Chris- 
tion perfection consists in loving God with all the 
heart, and when that is the case there is nothing more 
for us." 

"Well," said Brother Overjoy, "Wesley's definition 
of perfection is all right, but you surely know that a 
perfect man in Christ could love more than a babe in 
Christ, and that it would take less love to fill the little 
heart of a babe in Christ at conversion than the great 
enlarged, fully developed heart of a perfect man. Yon- 
der is a one-year-old babe ; it is perfect, not having a 
blemish. It is the ladies' delight ; they say it is as fat 
as a butter ball and as pretty as a peach. Wait ten 
years and look again ; it is just the same as before. Is 
it perfect now? No, for it can neither walk nor talk, 
yet it is a youth of eleven years. Wait ten years more, 
and look again ; it is still the same ; is it now perfect ? 
No, it is repulsive and an object of pity. It has not de- 
veloped, it cannot walk, or reason, when it should be a 
perfect man. Just so with the Christian, the standard 
of perfection changes as he advances ; what is expected 
to make a perfect babe in Christ is less than what is 
expected to make a perfect man in Christ, though heart 
purity is an essential element in each. 

"The different stages of Christian perfection may be 
illustrated by vessels of different sizes. When I was a 
boy we children often gathered around the well under 



2i6 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

the old locust tree to drink water from the old oaken 
bucket. My little brother took the little long-handled 
gourd and my larger brother took the large gourd; 
each drank a perfect vessel full, yet one drank more 
than the other, for he had a greater capacity ; just so it 
is with Christians ; some may have more love than 
others because they have greater capacity, yet each 
has perfect love. So you see, Brother Ely, that a 
Christian may be perfect from the hour of conversion, 
yet constantly going on to perfection, for his capacity 
is constantly increasing, and if he does not continue to 
make advancement he soon becomes imperfect and 
fails to meet the demands of his constantly enlarging 
capacity and opportunity of life. You are greatly in 
error, my brother. What is perfection for one man is 
not perfection for another. What is perfection for the 
man having two talents is not perfection for the man 
having ten talents. The latter may advance to his full 
capacity and be no more perfect than the former if the 
opportunities of the former are as well improved." 

"Well," said Brother Bly, "I believe that perfection 
is an experience to be attained as a final ideal and 
beyond which we cannot go." 

"If that is so, you do not agree with your namesake, 
Mr. Wesley, for he says: 'There is no perfection of 
degrees, and that does not admit of increase.' (Chris- 
tian Perfection, page 22.) 

"Well," said Brother Bly, "I never can believe that 
perfection begins at conversion and may continue all 
through life." 

"Then," said Brother Overjoy, "you do not agree 
with your namesake, Mr. Wesley, as you claim, for he 
says of the new birth : Tt is the gate of it, the entrance 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 217 

unto it. When we are born again, then our sanctifica- 
tion, our inward and outward holiness begins/ Again 
he says : 'At the same time that we are justified, yea 
that very moment sanctification begins.' (Sermons, 
Vol. I, page 385.) In his sermons on salvation he says 
of sanctification : 'It begins the moment we are justi- 
fied in the holy, humble, gentle and patient love of God 
and man. It gradually increases from that moment, as 
a grain of mustard seed, which at first is the least of all 
seeds, but afterward puts forth large branches and be- 
comes a great tree.' (Sermons, Vol. II, page 236.) 
Again he says : 'The new birth therefore is the first 
point of sanctification which may increase more and 
more unto the perfect day.' (Sermons, Vol. II, page 

390- ) 

"In these passages from Wesley's sermons he pos- 
itively and unmistakably confirms my statement that 
holiness begins at regeneration. He claimed to get 
the image of God in his heart when he was regener- 
ated, for he says, 'So is every one that is born of the 
Spirit.' (Sermons, Vol. I, page 403.) Also in Ibib 
V, 205, he says : 'Is every man, as soon as he believes, 
a new creature, sanctified, pure in heart? Does Christ 
dwell therein, and is he a temple of the Holy Ghost? 
All these things may be affirmed of every believer in a 
true sense.' From that beginning Wesley went on for 
forty years, and yet he was not as perfect as he desired 
to be, for he wrote to Dr. Todd in 1767, saying: T 
have told all the world I am not perfect and yet you 
allow me to be a Methodist. I tell you flatly I have not 
attained the character I draw.' (Wesley's Works, 
IV, 24.) He kept going on as long as he lived, as did 
Paul of old." 



218 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

When Brother Overjoy said that he turned to me 
and said : ''Brother pilgrim, what do you think about 
this matter?" 

I said : "Well, brother, I want to tell you I am, by 
the grace of God, going to avoid both the extremes to 
which I see pilgrims going, and, as the colored man 
says, 'I is going to keep in de middle ob de road/ You 
may put me down as a middle-of-the-road Christian, if 
you please." When I said that I looked up the mountain 
and I saw the pious four hundred coming sweeping 
down the valley singing, Glory Hallelujah, just as they 
did when I saw them at the foot of the mount of Re- 
generation. 

We pilgrims, who were starting up to the second 
blessing, naturally thought that they were coming to 
oppose us getting more religion, but we were happily 
surprised when they bade us God-speed, and told us 
to go right on, for there was a glorious blessing just 
ahead of us. They said it was a Pentecostal blessing, 
and it was the culmination of Christian experience. 

"We are going to have it if the devils get as thick 
as tiles on the house-top," said I. "We have had one 
Pentecostal blessing. We got it at conversion; the 
same kind that the three thousand sinners got when 
they were converted on the day of Pentecost. It 
was glorious, and if the second Pentecostal blessing 
is like that it will be good enough for us." 

"Go right on," said these people, "when you get up 
there you will have Holy Ghost religion." 

I said : "Yes, we got one Hody Ghost blessing 
when we were converted, and it is the right kind." 

"Go right on, brethren," said they, "when you get 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 219 

up there you will be holy, have heart purity, and all 
these horrible sins will be taken out of your hearts." 

I said : "Yes, I am going right now, but we want you 
good people to understand that we are not seeking 
the second blessing besause we are such sinners, but 
because we are Christians, and as such have -need of a 
blessing. We are like those Christians who were con- 
verted on the day of Pentecost and a few days later 
went on to seek the second blessing. (Acts IV, 23- 
31.) They were sinners before Pentecost and Chris- 
tians after that, for Peter says so. They did not seek 
another blessing because the first one was no good 
and did not save them, but that they 'With boldness 
might speak the word,' so we want another blessing 
that like them, we may be bold to do God's will." 

We at once started up the mount of Christian prog- 
ress. I was delighted to find the way so pleasant. I 
was happy all the way, which was more than I ex- 
pected. When I lived in the plains of sin I heard so 
much about Christian trials that I got an idea that it 
was a dreadful thing to live a Christian life. I was 
so surprised to find everything so perfectly delightful. 
To be sure, I had a few trials and troubles, but not 
half so many as sinners have in their life of sin. I 
soon found out that sin was the cause of most earthly 
troubles, and that when we got rid of that, our troubles 
were nearly all gone. Those dreadful crosses that I 
had heard so much about turned out to be blessings in 
disguise. I found many of the brightest gems of re- 
ligious experience right under the crosses of Christian 
life, and had I not taken up the crosses I never would 
have found the gems to deck my crown of rejoicing. 
The best of all was the fact that when I took up the 



220 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

cross it took me up with it. I thought Christian life 
was a constant struggle with the devil, but to my great 
surprise I hardly ever got a glimpse of him, and when 
I did he could only entice or tempt me, for he could 
not get on the highway of holiness and drag the pil- 
grims down, as I had supposed. 

I got the second blessing. It was indeed a glorious 
blessing. I shouted God's praises for hours. I felt 
very much like I did when I was converted. There 
was that same great joy, and I felt that I had a wonder- 
ful up-lift in Christian life. There were no new graces 
or elements of Christian life implanted in my soul, but 
all the elements received in conversion were greatly 
strengthened. I found that it was not a subtraction, 
as some had vainly taught, but it was a glorious addi- 
tion of new strength to my love, joy, zeal, etc. Was it 
a "higher life ?" No, it was a higher step in the same 
Christian life that was implanted in my heart at con- 
version. I found life very joyful there and the society 
was splendid, but there were not so many pilgrims 
there as I had expected to find, for most of them 
stopped at conversion. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Some people had told me that when I got the second 
blessing I would have no more tendency or temptation 
to sin, but such was not the case. I soon found that I 
had to watch and be on constant guard against sin, 
just as I had before. 

Not long after reaching that high state of religious 
experience, I chanced to look out toward the plains of 
sin, and behold, I saw the devil coming over the top of 
the steep bluff that faces the plains of sin and the land 
of perdition. 

I said : "Here he comes ! He is after me ; he is going 
to try to drag me over that steep bluff into perdition." 
I expected a great conflict. It seemed to me that he 
had been waiting for just such a place as that, so he 
might throw me headlong down to perdition. What 
was my surprise when he congratulated me on having 
attained perfection. He said all those people were 
perfect, for they had Holy Ghost religion. When he 
said that I had to laugh. I said, there could be no 
Christian without the Holy Ghost, any more than there 
could be a river without water. All Christians have 

221 



222 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

Holy Ghost religion. The Holy Ghost comes to their 
hearts in conversion, and abides in their hearts unless 
driven out by sin. 

"Well," said he, "all Christians who live here have 
received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and there are 
no higher attainments for them — they are perfect. 
This is a glorious place to live, and all Christians stop 
here.' , 

Now I knew that I was in a heavenly place, and it 
seemed to me that it would be very nice to stay right 
there until God opened the pearly gates of glory for 
me. I began to wonder if I could not do that and have 
all my trials and struggles of Christian life over and be 
done with it. Yet I could not believe what the devil 
said about these Christians never falling, and I told 
him so. I told him that Adam and some other people, 
who were the holiest people that ever lived, had fallen. 

He said : "Well, if these pilgrims did fall they would 
not be lost, for they would simply fall back to the 
justified state and would still be Christians and on the 
way to glory." 

I said : "What do you take me to be ? Do you think 
I am an idiot that you can make me believe that back- 
sliders are on the way to heaven?" 

"Don't you remember," said he, "that the evangel- 
ist said, 'Satan gets no souls immediately out of the 
sanctified experience.' A fall from sanctification simply 
brings you back into justification. When you fall from 
justification then Satan gets you. So you see you have 
two chances, instead of one." 

"Yes, I remember reading that in their little books," 
said I, "but I am ashamed to tell it. There is no such 
doctrine in the Scripture, and it is contrary to all 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. t 223 

reason. I never can believe that justification is a kind 
of soft hammock like the circus uses to catch the fall- 
ing actor, and that persons falling from this state 
drop into it and are still God's dear children. 

"I cannot believe that when perfect Tom Jones was 
tempted, got drunk, and fell from holiness he alighted 
on the downy pillow of justification, and could take a 
vomit, leap to his feet and shout 'Glory to God, I am 
a Christian yet and on my way to glory.' 

"I don't believe that when holy Bob Perkins fell 
from grace, committing murder, he fell from the second 
blessing back to justification, died the next moment, 
entered heaven, snatched a golden harp, and started out 
to praise God forever. No, sir; you cannot make me 
believe any such foolishness; it is the silliest non- 
sense. 

"What kind of a cesspool would justification become 
if it must catch all the drunkards, whore-mongers, 
and murderers, who, after being purified and made 
holy, yielded to temptation and fell from their high 
estate and resumed their former sins ! We know that 
many do turn from holy lives to all these vices, and to 
claim that they are still justified, even for one moment, 
is contrary to all Scripture and common sense." 

When I said that I stepped a few paces to the left 
and looked toward the plains of sin, and I saw a horri- 
ble sight that I never shall forget. I saw a little way 
from me many pilgrims walking along the way and 
falling headlong over the bluff over which the devil 
climbed as he came to me. I looked down from its. 
dizzy height and a sickening sight came to my view. 
I saw hundreds of pilgrims lying mangled and dead 
at the foot of the bluf!'. Others were not dead, but 



224 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

crippled and suffering. I looked out to the left toward 
the plains of sin and I saw many pilgrims hobbling 
back to the haunts of vice, and a few could be seen 
away in the distance who had entered the broad road 
that leads to the land of perdition. To say that I was 
astonished does not express it. I was amazed beyond 
the power of language to tell. I said: "Is not this 
awful?" 

It seemed that the pilgrims who had made the high- 
est attainments in Christian life usually fell the lowest 
when they did fall. Instead of falling back to justifi- 
cation they did not fall in that direction at all, but they 
fell face downward toward the land of perdition. I 
had noticed that pilgrims who fell from Mount Regen- 
eration usually fell gradually, and many times when 
they had gradually wandered down the valley toward 
the plains of sin they were rescued and reclaimed. 
But most of those who fell from this high experience 
seemed to fall suddenly and fall so low that it was 
almost impossible to reclaim them. 

I said : "How can people be so foolish as to teach that 
these people fall from this high estate to a justified 
state and are still Christians ?" The experience of these 
pilgrims was the very opposite, and was a fulfillment 
of that Scripture which says : "For it is impossible for 
those who once enlightened, and have tasted of the 
heavenly gifts, and were made partakers of the Holy 
Ghost, have tasted the good word of God, and the 
powers of the world to come. If they shall fall away, 
to renew them again to repentance ; seeing they crucify 
to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to 
an open shame." (Heb. VI, 4-6.) 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 225 

It seemed the reason so many fell from this high 
estate was because they were made to believe that they 
were perfect, and had all the religious experience there 
was for them. They felt secure, became negligent and 
careless; the Tempter took them by surprise and led 
them on to eternal death. Again, some thought that 
if they did fall justification would protect them from 
hell, for they could only fall back that far at once. This 
made them indifferent and less watchful. The experi- 
ence of Deacon Worldman vividly illustrated this fact. 
He fell over this bluff of apostasy a short time before 
I got there, and they said he never stopped until he 
reached the bottom. 

The deacon belonged to the pious four hundred 
and he was known all over the country as "camp- 
meeting king." Much of his time was spent at camp 
meetings. 

When he announced that there would be a camp- 
meeting at old Sandy Branch camp ground everybody 
was on tiptoe of expectation at once. Nothing but 
camp-meeting could be heard for weeks. Everybody 
seemed to be getting ready to go and camp on the 
grounds. Even the railroad companies seemed to get 
the camp-meeting fever, and they sent all along their 
lines great flaming posters, advertising the camp-meet- 
ing. Also the company managers had the meeting 
advertised under their own signatures in all the secular 
papers. One might have almost believed that the 
millennial dawn was approaching from the interest 
being manifested by worldly men. 

One day Elder Stikes said to the railroad agent : 
"John, what has made you railroad people so very re- 
ligious all at once?" 



226 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

John expressed surprise. He had never known 
the railroad managers to be accused of being religious 
before, and he wanted to know what had made the 
elder think they were religious. 

"Well," said Elder Stikes, "if I may judge from 
your interest in camp-meeting, giving it so much free 
advertisement, you must all be very devoted." 

"O, well," said John, "it's the money that is in it 
that we are after. They say railroad companies have 
no souls to save, and I guess that is about right, but 
we have got an eye to business, and if we can make 
money off the camp-meeting it is just as well as to 
make it off the baseball games or circus. We will run 
Sunday excursions from every direction during the 
camp-meeting, and we expect to bring five thousand 
people to attend the camp-meeting." 

When the first Monday in September came, crowds 
of people might have been seen coming from every 
direction to old Sandy Branch camp ground. They 
pitched their white tents in straight lines on each side 
of a large square. In the center of this square was a 
large oak grove of magnificent shade trees. Under 
them seats were erected for the hundreds who might 
attend. Just north of these seats was the preachers' 
stand, and before it the line of benches called the altar 
of consecration. On the trees, and before each tent, 
was the flaming torch which illuminated the tented 
city and made a most impressive scene at night. To 
the right of the preachers' stand, high up on a pole, 
was the big bell that was to call the people to worship 
at all hours of the day, from six in the morning to 
seven in the evening. To the left of the preachers' 
stand, just down the hill, was the sparkling spring 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 227 

that furnished ice-cold water for its hundreds of daily 
visitors. Just north of the preachers' stand was the 
preachers' big tent in which all the preachers lodged. 

Among the preachers was the president, who was 
considered a big preacher. Many of his admirers said 
he was the equal of any bishop. The next preacher of 
importance was the secretary, and next to him came the 
"Pentecost man," who was there to represent the papers 
and to sell books. The evangelist was one of the 
prominent preachers in the meeting. Parson Grimes 
was there to do his part, but he found his part a small 
affair, as he was overshadowed by these greater lights. 
The camp-meeting was opened with a grand Pen- 
tecostal service led by the president. Services were 
continued for several days and there was quite a little 
stir among the Christians, but there was no sweeping 
revival. Everybody seemed to expect but little before 
Sunday. They all agreed in saying Sunday would be 
the "big day." 

When Sunday came the sun shone brightly, and 
everything was favorable for a big turnout. Early in 
the morning wagons and carriages began to roll in by 
the hundreds, coming from every direction. Also the 
great iron horses came sweeping down the tracks 
bringing their long trains loaded with precious human 
freight. Soon there was a puffing of engines, a ring- 
ing of bells, and a rush of people, the like of which had 
seldom been witnessed before. The way to the camp- 
ground was one struggling mass of humanity, in which 
men, women and children were crowded and pressed 
together in sardine fashion. 

Deacon Worldman with his many assistants were 
facing the mighty throng at the entrance gates and 



228 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

laboring heroically in the effort to collect the gate fee. 
The crowd rained the dollars and dimes upon him, 
until all his pockets were full and his plug hat seemed 
in a good way to burst from the strain of the rain of 
free silver that was poured upon the good deacon. 

It soon became evident that the camp-meeting was 
going to be a success from a business standpoint at 
least. Hundreds of dollars were taken in at the gate, 
the big boarding tent with its long tables was crowded 
to its utmost capacity. They did a rushing business, 
feeding the people at so much a head. The big feed 
tent also did a land office business selling feed for the 
horses. Also the oft-repeated public collection, so ur- 
gently presented by the Pentecost man, and others, was 
no little source of income. 

While Sunday was a big day financially, it was not 
so spiritually. The greatness of the crowd, the hustle 
and business in the boarding tent, feed stand, etc., with 
many other things, attracted the attention of the wor- 
shipers. 

The rowdies who had been bad enough all week, 
now became so bold and impudent that they well nigh 
broke up the meeting. When the services of that Sab- 
bath were over the people had enough of open gates, 
and Sunday excursions to camp-meeting. They had 
never had that before and they declared they never 
would submit to it again. 

On Monday morning the camp-meeting officials 
called a meeting to confer with the brethren as to the 
best way to control the rowdies, and prevent them 
breaking up the meeting. They discussed the question 
at great length. Some thought one thing and some 
another. Some said the proper thing to do was to in- 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 229 

crease the number of watchmen and arrest everyone 
who disturbed the meeting. Others said if they under- 
took that they would get their hands full, for there 
were so many of them, and many of these young fel- 
lows were of the most influential families in the coun- 
try. It would be very hard to convict them. 

Elder Stikes addressed the meeting, declaring that 
the best way to stop rowdyism was to go to these young 
men and present Christ to them as their best friend, and 
their only salvation from eternal death. He said relig- 
ion was the best cure for such disturbance, and there 
was no reason why these young men might not be in- 
fluenced to come to Christ if properly approached, and 
made to see their need of salvation. "We have had 
trouble with rowdies at this camp-ground before," said 
Elder Stikes, "and instead of using the iron arm of the 
law we captured their leader by the fascinating charms- 
of our holy religion." 

"Well," said Deacon Worldman, "I tried to talk re- 
ligion to some of them, but I utterly failed. They said 
camp-meetings were not for them ; that they were for 
the sinner Christian in the church. They declared there 
had not been a sermon to sinners during the camp- 
meeting, nor had there been a single invitation to them 
to come and get religion, and they did not think they 
were wanted there. Others said they had lost all faith 
in conversion because all the preachers said conversion 
did not give heart purity, and a whole lot of the Chris- 
tians who had been converted at former camp-meetings 
were declaring they never had been fully saved, and 
were again up to the altar, weeping and praying like 
they were the biggest sinners in the country. Just last 
night I was out in the crowd trying to keep them 



230 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

quiet, when one of their ring-leaders became real im- 
pudent, and said he had no faith in our religion because 
we encouraged Sunday excursions, took gate money, 
ran a camp-meeting hotel and sold oats and corn on 
Sunday." 

"Well," said Elder Stikes, "I do not very much 
blame the boys for objecting to that kind of religion 
that encourages such things on the Sabbath. There is 
too much truth in what they say, and I am ashamed 
that our church has had anything to do with such Sab- 
bath desecration. What would Christ have done if 
he had come to our camp-meeting yesterday ? It is my 
opinion that when he got to the gate he would have 
said to Deacon Worldman : 'Thy money perish with 
thee, thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for 
thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent, there- 
fore, of this, thy wickedness.' Then doubtless the 
cyclone of Divine wrath would have whirled him in 
mid-air until his dollars and dimes would have scat- 
tered much as the sparks from the turning wheel in 
the Fourth of July fireworks. The blessed Christ 
would not have stopped there, but he would have 
passed through yonder camp-meeting hotel, and up- 
braided them for desecrating his holy day. He would 
also have visited yonder feed store, and overturned the 
bushels and barrels, driving out the money-grabbers as 
he did from his holy temple in olden times. Yes, my 
brother, the cyclone of Divine wrath would not have 
stopped until it had swept yonder preacher's tent off 
this camp-ground, and laid the responsibility of all this 
Sabbath desecration at the feet of these preachers who 
claim to be models of holy living, but for filthy lucre 
permits such things. 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 231 

"These rowdies were right in saying that this camp- 
meeting has taken no interest in their conversion. I 
think it is now time to begin to preach to these sinners. 
Get their ring-leader converted, and this rowdy 
problem will be solved. While these preachers are dis- 
cussing their theory of perfection sinners all around 
them are falling headlong into hell." 

When Elder Stikes was through, Deacon Worldman 
said : "There is no use in trying to conquer these fel- 
lows by reason and religion. You had just as well try 
to reason with a cyclone. Nothing but enforcement of 
law will do them any good. I move they all be ar- 
rested." 

The president trembled at such responsibility, re- 
fused to put the question and adjourned the meeting. 

Deacon Worldman said after the meeting adjourned : 
"Well, I will show those fellows that I am running this 
camp-meeting. If I get hold of them I will teach them 
how to keep the peace, and that quick, too." 

That evening there was a disturbance in the audience 
and the deacon got out among the rowdies, and in a 
very short time he found himself in a free-for-all fight. 
I blush to tell it, but the deacon was taken off his 
guard, was overcome by temptation, became angry and 
swore like a trooper. 

The camp-meeting closed the next day, but the 
deacon was not there, for the devil had got him ; he 
had fallen over this precipice of apostasy. When he 
fell, he fell very low and was never restored to his first 
love. He thought he was above all danger and if he 
should fall he would only go back to the justified state 
and would still be on the way to heaven. Alas, it was 
not so! Poor Deacon Worldman when he fell from 



2$2 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

grace found no downy pillow of justification on which 
to repose, but went headlong over this awful bluff of 
apostasy down into the plains of sin, and was escorted 
away to the land of perdition by a host of evil spirits 
who seemed to hold a jubilee over their hellish work 
in his apostasy. 

As I witnessed the great danger of apostasy even 
from this high experience in Christian life, I felt more 
than ever determined never to look back, but to press 
on to higher attainments in Christian life. 

When I started on up the mountain for a new and 
fresh religious experience, the devil said: "Where 
are you going?" I said I was going on -to glory. He 
said : "There is nothing more for you, you have got 
it all." 

I felt that I needed more, and I was very sure that 
a goocj many around me were not as perfect as they 
might be, for though I blush to tell it, I found some 
selfishness, egotism and strife in that high sphere of 
Christian life. I told the devil that I did not believe 
that we yet had all there was for us in Christian ex- 
perience. I was very sure that I could see another 
mountain of Christian progress still before me, and as 
I looked up that road that led to its sunlit top, I felt 
like I would never be satisfied until I had followed the 
Master's footsteps up that road, and stood with him 
on its glorious summit. 

The devil said : "You are wrong; do not you know 
you are already perfect? Ask these people if what I 
say is not true; many of them will tell you the same 
thing. You have received the second blessing and 
that is all there is. Who ever heard of a third bless- 
ing? There is no such thing." 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 233 

I said : "Well, I believe in doing like Paul. He 
kept going on for nearly thirty years, and did not get 
all the perfection he wanted. He was not like some 
who get all the blessings they want in less than thirty 
minutes." 

When I said that the devil said: "You had better 
let good enough alone ; you are now perfect and above 
all tendency to sin, and you can never fall. There is 
no third blessing; the evangelist will tell you that." 

Just then the pious four hundred came sweeping 
around the hill and stopped right before me, and near- 
by where Satan stood. It was the same crowd that 
had appeared three times before, and they still had 
their little books in their hands, from which they began 
to read. Then said the devil : "Didn't I tell you so ? 
These good people are all against the third blessing. 
Now, why do you insist in making a fool of yourself 
and following a few cranky pilgrims up that mountain ? 
They are a set of enthusiasts who will come to a bad 
end, now mark what I tell you." "Amen," said the 
pious four hundred. 

By this time there was a great crowd of pilgrims 
who had joined me and desired to go on to the third 
blessing. The pious four hundred kept reading their 
books and gesticulating most vehemently as thongli 
we were about to commit some henious crime by seek- 
ing further religious experience. 

We could tell but little they said, but caught a few 
words, such as two blessings — idiots — useless dog- 
mas — enthusiasts — perfection — no more blessings — 
falling into hell, etc. 

Us pilgrims became alarmed. I said : "O, my, 
what dreadful things are those people doing?" From 



234 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

the few words we caught, it seemed that they must 
be reading some dreadful curse upon us. How could 
we tell but they were ex-communicating all of us pil- 
grims who would not stop at the second blessing? Or 
they might be doing worse than that; they might be 
reading us out of the kingdoms of grace and glory ; it 
sounded very much like it. 

If the way of holiness had been on fire just ahead of 
us and we were all in danger of falling into the burnt 
chasm, they could not have been more energetic to stop 
us. I said to my fellow pilgrims : "What shall we 
do?" They said we must press toward the prize of our 
high calling in Christ Jesus. 

Then in behalf of the pilgrims, I addressed the pious 
four hundred : "O, men of God, you represent the 
Master on earth. You truly desire to do his will. You 
are doubtless as honest and sincere as we are. You 
thought you were doing God's will when you met us 
at the foot of Mount Regeneration and told us that 
we could not get heart purity there. You thought you 
were doing God's will when you met us in the Vale of 
Distrust and tried to convince us that we were sin- 
ners and never had been fully saved. You now think 
you are doing God's will as you block the way to our 
further progress in Christian life, but we must remind 
you that the people, who killed the apostle of our 
blessed Lord, thought they were doing God's service. 
My brethren, you are blinded and prejudiced and know 
not what you do. Throw away those little books and 
take the Bible as your only rule of faith, and you will 
no longer feel it your duty to block the way of pil- 
grims either before or after conversion. 

"O, men of God, why will you continue blocking the 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 235 

way of Christian progress both before and after the 
second blessing, in the foolish belief that it is neces- 
sary to magnify your favorite blessings. Remember 
that your Master said : 'Whosoever shall offend one 
of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for 
him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and 
he were cast into the sea.' It is a fearful thing to block 
the way of these pilgrims. We appeal to you in the 
name of humanity, in the name of the church, and in 
the name of the Master ; get out of our way and let us 
go on to glory." They withdrew, the devil fled, and 
we went on our way rejoicing. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

We found the road up to the third blessing a very 
delightful way, and we were often made to exclaim : 
"Glory to God ! Religion gets better and better !" 

We were not long in reaching that mountain top, 
and we found the third blessing equaled any we had 
before received. It was wrought by the same Divine 
Spirit, and was attended with similar joy, love, and 
boldness in the Master's work. One difference we 
could see, it raised us higher in divine life. We were 
now in an altitude of heavenly atmosphere and almost 
perpetual sunshine, yet we found as much need as 
ever for watching and prayer. 

I was greatly surprised to find so many pilgrims on 
this mount of Christian experience, for I had supposed 
that nearly all stopped at the first or second blessing. 
To my delight I found many good people there who 
had never heard of the strife that was going on about 
the one-blessing Christians. It had never entered 
their minds that there was any limit to the number 
of blessings a pilgrim could get. 

236 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 237 

I lived in that experience for months without a sin- 
gle temptation to sin, but the devil came when I was 
least expecting him. Then I expected him to leap at 
me for the final struggle, but he did not; instead of 
that he flattered me on my success in reaching the high- 
est Christian experience known to man. He said: 
"One thing is sure; there is no further religious ex- 
perience for you, for you have now got the baptism of 
fire. He quoted the Scripture about the baptism of 
fire and called my attention to the fact that of late 
years quite a number of evangelists were preaching the 
third blessing as a baptism of fire and that they all 
agreed that that was the highest blessing in Christian 
life." 

I said : "Well, I will open my Bible and see what it 
says about the baptism of fire. If it says it is the third 
and last blessing, I shall believe it." 

I had not read far until I satisfied myself, and I 
said to the devil : "See, here, you and the evangelists 
are mistaken again. The Bible teaches that the baptism 
of fire is not the third blessing at all, but it is the first 
blessing. It is the same one that three thousand sin- 
ners got on the day of Pentecost, when they were con- 
verted." Then the devil seemed to feel ashamed of 
himself and left me. 

When he was gone I began to look around to see if 
he was getting any of the pilgrims to stop by his 
baptism-of-fire theory. I had not gone far to the left, 
in the direction from which the devil came, when I 
looked down the steep side of the mountain and saw 
a great gulf into which a number of pilgrims had 
fallen. They had concluded that they had all the ex- 
perience there was for them, and had grown careless, 



238 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

and got too near the edge of the way of holiness, and 
they had fallen off into the gulf. As I looked again 
down into that horrible place, I noticed that there was 
a near cut from that to the land of perdition, and some 
of the pilgrims were going that way as fast as they 
could go. 

There were not near so many apostasies here as 
there were at Mount Regeneration, and that of the sec- 
ond blessing, but these who fell from this dizzy height 
to the gulf below seldom returned to the Christian 
life. This was not because God was unwilling to save 
such apostates, if they wanted to return, but because 
they could seldom be induced to return. 

As I looked down I saw the devil struggling with 
one of the pilgrims whom I knew quite well. 

This poor fellow was weeping and trying to get 
back to the Christian highway. The devil was trying 
to get him reconciled to his horrible fate by quoting 
that Scritpure in Heb. VI, 1-6, which says : "If such 
fall away it is impossible to renew them again unto 
repentance seeing they have crucified to themselves the 
Son of God afresh and put him into an open shame." 

I cried to him : "Brother pilgrim, are you penitent, 
are you sorry for your sins ?" He said : "Yes, God 
knows I am." "Well," said I, "then God will save you, 
for God never turns away a penitent soul." 

The poor fellow took courage, broke loose from the 
devil and scaled the heights to the place from which 
he had fallen. 

I saw plainly that the devil was keeping these 
fallen souls under his power, by misrepresenting or 
misinterpreting Scripture, just as he did to the Saviour. 

He made them believe that they could not be saved 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 239 

if they did repent, while the Scritpure teaches that 
the difficulty in saving such people is that of "renew- 
ing them again unto repentance," and if that can be 
done, they can be saved just as easily as any other sin- 
ners. This was the great secret of the devil's success 
in this department of his hellish work. 

When I saw this terrible work the devil was doing 
I said : "Why will the pilgrims continue to come so 
near this place of danger; why do they not keep just 
as far from such temptations as possible?" Some 
seemed to want to see how near they could go and not 
fall. 

I little thought that I would ever be so foolish as 
that ; no, not me, I was sure I had too much religion 
for that. But, alas, it was but a few short months un- 
til I had a terrible struggle with Satan right there, and 
he came near getting me into that gulf of apostasy. 

After living in this high altitude for some months, 
like many other people there, I became somewhat self- 
confident and careless, thinking that there was little 
danger of falling, after having such wonderful relig- 
ious experience. I first neglected to read my Bible; 
then I neglected secret prayer, and I soon began to 
neglect the means of grace ; after a while I began to 
take new interest in worldy wealth and worldy pleas- 
ure. In fact, I ventured very near to the border of 
the way of holiness, and as I stood there on enchanted 
ground a little way from the brink of that great gulf 
of apostasy, I saw some beautiful flowers of worldy 
pleasure growing right on its brink. I was determined 
to pluck them. I did so, and not feeling that I was 
harmed, I sat down to drink in the fragrant breezes 
that swept across that enchanted ground. 



240 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

I felt occasionally a hot wave, as though it came 
from the burning sands of perdition, but that did not 
alarm me. For a long time I sat there inhaling the 
fragrance of the flowers I had plucked. It seems they 
were charged with some stupefying poison, for before. 
I knew it I was sound asleep and that on the verge of 
apostasy. How long I slept I never could tell, but I 
was startled from that sleep by the iron grasp of the 
devil. Before I knew it he had me on the brink of 
that awful abyss, and I was in the midst of a terrible 
struggle with the Prince of Darkness. He was too 
much for me. I could not resist him. It seems that 
as soon as he got me off the well-beaten way of holi- 
ness, I had lost my spiritual strength and he was in a 
good way to overcome me, and carry me captive at his 
will. 

I saw I was gone, and I cried to Christ for help 
with all my might. Glory to God, he came to my res- 
cue, and broke the Satanic grasp and restored me to 
the way of life. 

When I was again on my feet, and had become, to 
a degree, composed, I began to inquire what was the 
cause of that awful calamity that came so near caus- 
ing my apostasy. I soon discovered that my Bible 
was gone. I saw at once that it was the secret of the 
devil's victory over me. I had always made it the rule 
of my life to meet the devil with the Word of God, 
which as the sword of the Spirit, gained me the vic- 
tory, but this time the devil caught me napping, and 
without my sword of defense. I knew that I could 
never get along without my Bible, and I started out 
to hunt it. I had often seen pilgrims who lost their 
Bibles, and when the preacher called they could not 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 241 

find them, but I little thought I would ever lose my 
precious Bible left me by my sainted father. Yet it 
was gone and I knew not where. 

After much searching I found it. It had been cov- 
ered up a long time by secular papers, many of which 
were the bed-blanket Sunday dailies. I felt heartily 
ashamed of myself, especially when I was in the pres- 
ence of my fellow pilgrims. 

For a while I could hardly hold up my head, not 
that I had committed any great sin, or meant to be 
wicked, but my feeling of safety had led to neglect of 
duty, and that to danger of losing my soul. 

Then the devil took advantage of me again, coming 
to me and saying : "Are you not ashamed of yourself, 
after making such a loud profession, to let me come 
so near getting you? People never will have confi- 
dence in you again. You need not try to be so pious 
any more, for they will all say that you are a hypocrite. 
You better not try to be conspicuous in church mat- 
ters any more, until you can live better." 

There came to me right there one of the greatest 
temptations of my life, for I had always prided myself 
on my uprightness, and almost felt proud of my piety. 
My present attitude was most humiliating, but God 
gave me the victory over the devil and my peace con- 
tinued to flow as a river. After that I was happy 
all the day long, and I did not undertake to pluck any 
more flowers of world pleasure, but kept just as far 
away from danger as possible. 

After I had enjoyed this glorious experience at- 
tained by the third step in my Christian life for some 
months, I began to feel my need of a deeper work of 
grace. Not because I felt that I was a sinner, but be- 



242 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

cause I knew that I was a Christian, and could not af- 
ford to stand still in Christian experience. I looked 
up in the direction of Emanuel's land and behold, there 
was still another mount of Christian experience rais- 
ing its sunlit summit above the clouds. 

I said: "Is not this Christian life and experience 
wonderful ?" When I was in the plains of sin Mount 
Regeneration looked to be the top of the mountains of 
holiness, but when I got there, I saw another mount 
of religious experience above me, that seemed to be the 
top, but when I got up there and enjoyed the glorious 
second blessing, behold, there was still another mount 
of Christian experience above me. I passed on and 
reached this glorious experience of the third bless- 
ing, and now behold, there is still another mount of 
Christian experience to be ascended. 

I said I was going to have all the religion there was 
for me, and off I started for a higher experience. I 
had scarcely made a step when the devil appeared and 
said : "Where are you going ?" I told him I was going 
on up the mountain for a greater religious experience. 
He threw up his hand and exclaimed : "What on earth 
do you mean? Are you never going to be satisfied? 
Don't you know there is no further religious ex- 
perience ? There is no experience on earth higher than 
the baptism of fire, which you have already received." 

I said : "Well, I see a great number of pilgrims up 
on this mountain side, and they are going on to a high- 
er experience than they got here." 

"Well," said the devil, "those people are ignorant 
of the latest teachings concerning the higher life ; they 
never read anything but the Bible." 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED 243 

Just then there appeared between us and the moun- 
tain about a half dozen of the pious four hundred with 
their little red books and some other books about the 
baptism of fire. I thought I recognized most of them. 
I had seen them at the foot of Mount Regeneration, 
at the Vale of Distrust, and when I started to get the 
second blessing. They had opposed us at the first 
two places, and encouraged us at the last-named place ; 
also they opposed us when we began to seek our pres- 
ent experience. Then there were four hundrd of them, 
now only about half a dozen. 

I found that when this half dozen pilgrims adopted 
their baptism-of-fire theory, the balance of the pious 
four hundred fell out with them and had been oppos- 
ing them bitterly ever since. That made it plain to 
me why there were so few of them there to try to 
keep us from seeking the fourth blessing. 

As we pilgrims drew near to those people they all 
began to swing their little red books and papers above 
their heads and gesticulate in a most comic manner. 
In the noise and confusion we could scarcely hear 
anything but the words, "Fire! Fire! Fire!" This 
fire cry rung out in the mountains and created an in- 
tense excitement among the pilgrims. It sounded 
very much like the fire alarm we often heard in the 
cities of sin. What could these people mean by such 
a cry of fire? Could it be that the way of holiness 
was on fire, or were they trying to call fire from 
heaven upon our heads, because we wanted more re- 
ligion? No, it was neither of these. As we drew 
near we discovered that they were all talking about 
the baptism of fire, and they were becoming desperate 



244 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

in their efforts to convince us that we had that already 
and there was no more Christian experience for us. 

When I found that was all they wanted I said to 
them : "You people ought to be ashamed of yourselves 
to frighten these pilgrims almost to death in this way." 
We tried to reason with them, but there was no use, 
so we passed by and went on our way up the mount of 
Christian experience. 

We soon reached the top of that mount, and ex- 
perienced a fourth uplife in Christian life. It was in- 
deed a wonderful blessing, yet it differed but little 
from other blessings received earlier in Christian life. 
In fact, all blessings of Christian life are wrought by 
the same Holy Spirit, and produce the same kind of 
joy and love for God and man. We could see that 
each special blessing lifted us higher in divine life, 
so that after each, we lived in a higher altitude and 
enjoyed greater spiritual power. 

On receiving this blessing we noticed that we were 
so far above the plains of sin that most of the poison- 
ous fogs and storms of passion were far below us. In 
fact, a great part of the time we lived above the clouds 
of worldly care and perplexity, and basked in the 
glorious sunshine of heaven. Yet we were not above 
temptation, and we still found it necessary to watch 
and pray, just as we did in the beginning. 

We were greatly surprised to find so many pil- 
grims enjoying this glorious religious experience. We 
found that they had not near all stopped at the first, 
second or third blessing, as we had supposed. 

Many of the pilgrims had never heard of the mod- 
ern wrangles and strife over these things. In fact, 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 245 

in this higher altitude of Christian life such things are 
never mentioned. 

We found no talk of one-blessing Christians, or two- 
blessing Christians, but all lived on a common level 
with no partition walls between them. There were 
plenty of preachers and evangelists there, but they 
were so occupied in giving glory to Jesus and work- 
ing for souls that they never stopped to wrangle over 
the knotty problems of original sin, inherited sin, birth 
sin, or any other sin not found in the Bible. There 
was no wrangling over the glorious doctrine of Chris- 
tian perfection, for all had fallen in with Paul's kind 
of Christian perfection, that knew no limit this side of 
heaven. 

When asked if they were yet perfect they answered 
with Paul : "Not as though I had already attained, 
either were already perfect, but I follow after, if that 
I may apprehend that for which I also am appre- 
hended of Christ Jesus. But this one thing I do, for- 
getting those things which are behind, and reaching 
forth unto those things which are before. I press to- 
ward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God 
in Christ Jesus." (Phil. Ill, 12-14.) 

These people, like Paul, were already perfect in one 
sense and had been ever since their conversion, yet they 
were not satisfied with present attainments, but were 
constantly pressing on to still greater degrees of per- 
fection. Some of them said that early in their Chris- 
tian life they were always looking for a place to stop, 
but now they never expect to quit seeking higher at- 
tainments until they get to glory. They said that they 



246 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

had found that John Wesley was right when he said : 
"The new birth therefore is the first point in sanctifica- 
tion, which may increase more and more unto the per- 
fect day," (Sermons Vol II, page 390.) 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Even this high altitude of Christian life has its 
many temptations and dangers. I saw more people 
leaving the way of holiness and going off down the 
Vale of Delusions, from these higher walks of life, 
than any place I had been before. 

Now, the Vale of Delusions is a small vale, that in 
many places runs almost parallel with the way of 
holiness. It touches the pilgrim's highway in many 
places. All the way from Mount Regeneration there 
are pilgrims turning off into the Vale of Delusions 
and thence through little dells into the plains of sin. 

What seemed strange to me was the fact that the 
higher up in Christian life, the greater the tendency 
with some to enter the Vale of Delusions. Another 
strange thing was the fact that those people were all so 
deluded that they still believed they were in the way of 
holiness. Some of these people committed all kinds of 
abominations and, yet so deluded were they, that they 
thought they were doing the will of God. The Vale 
of Delusions is a very deceptive way. While it seems 
to lead in the direction of Emanuel's land, and looks 

H7 



248 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

almost as attractive as the way of holiness, it has sud- 
den turns to the left that lead direct to the plains of 
sin, and on to the land of perdition. As I stand on 
this eminence I can see many pilgrims making that 
turn, out near the Rock of Despair. The number of 
pilgrims who tread that way is amazing. 

As I looked I could see in the distance a great city 
by a beautiful lake, on the borders of the plains of sin. 
It was a city of wealth with the minarets of its public 
buildings glittering in the sunshine, and the great 
domes of its tabernacle plainly in view. In that city 
are hundreds of deluded priests leading thousands of 
deluded men and women back to a life of sin. The 
founder of that city and the parent of that delusion 
once had a glorious religious experience, and for a 
short time desired to God's will. But instead of tak- 
ing God's word as a guide, he followed the delusions 
of his youthful mind, entered the Vale of Delusions 
and Mormonism is the result. 

I look again and I see near that city another com- 
munity who possess intelligence and wealth, but they 
are also following delusions. The greater part of this 
community doubtless were once in the way of holi- 
ness, but they turned off into the Vale of Delusions. 
Doubtless their founder was once honestly desiring 
to follow the Master's footsteps, but a delusion pos- 
sessed his mind, and he believed that it was the voice 
of God. He followed that delusion, discarding the 
greater part of God's word, claiming that he himself 
was inspired, that he visited heaven and hell and com- 
municated with their inhabitants, and indeed, lived in 
both places for years. He claimed to communicate, 
not only with them, but also with the spirits from the 



THE DEVI LUNMASKED. 249 

moon and starry planets. He claimed to bring mes- 
sages from other worlds to this. Other good people 
left the way of holiness and followed his delusions 
until we now see that community of Swedenborgism. 

I look again and I see a community of Christian 
Scientists, many of whom were once pious people, but 
they left the way of holiness and entered this Vale of 
Delusions. The woman who founded this community 
once walked in the high altitudes of Christian life and 
was very devoted to the cause of Christ. These people, 
who were once so pious, are now so deluded as to em- 
phatically declare that there is no such thing as a 
human body; there is no sickness, but people only 
think they are sick. 

Again I look and see a large community of Spirit- 
ualists, many of whom were once in the glorious ex- 
perience of Divine love, but they turned off into the 
Vale of Delusions. 

A little nearer I see a large company of "Faith Heal- 
ers," who were once on the highway, but embraced 
this delusion and are now turning to the plains of sin. 

Once more I looked, and just beyond the Rock of 
Despair I saw what modern fanatics call "The Heav- 
en." Their "Zion," which is one of the latest and most 
shocking delusions the world has ever witnessed. A 
few years ago the founder of this community was a 
young man walking in the higher altitudes of Christian 
life; he entered the way of Delusions, and now he 
claims to be the Son of God. 

I was made to exclaim : "My Lord, can it be pos- 
sible that intelligent men can be so deluded? Tt does 
seem that when pilgrims leave the way of holiness 



250 THE DEVI LUNMASKED. 

and enter the Vale of Delusions, there is nothing 
that they cannot be made to believe." 

Not only did I see many organized communities in 
the Vale of Delusions, but there were thousands of 
other pilgrims who were so possessed of delusions 
that they embraced all kinds of isms; I was amazed 
beyond expression at the extent to which many pil- 
grims went, and the silly theories they advanced. I 
said : "Well, I will surely never be so foolish as to 
wander off into this Vale of Delusions, but, alas ! I 
knew not what was before me, for in less than one 
short year I was in that horrible place. 

It came about in this way : When my sainted father 
died he willed me a beautiful cottage home, which I 
prized very highly. I said I would hold on to that, 
and when done with the busy activities of pilgrim life, 
that would be an elegant place to retire and spend the 
quiet hours of old age. But it was not to be so ; once 
upon a time, at the hour of midnight, the sad news 
was brought to me that my beautiful house had gone 
up in flames. It made me very sad, for I had no place 
on earth to lay my head. I wondered much why it 
should be so, and I finally concluded that there must 
be something wrong ; perhaps I had set my heart upon 
it too much, and God had taken it from me to draw 
me nearer to him. I searched my heart much, prayed 
often, and became fully convinced that it was all 
Providential, and that God had really taken away my 
house that I might be more earnest in my efforts to 
lay up treasures in heaven. 

I proclaimed my belief far and near. I never had 
any reason to doubt the correctness of my conclusions 
until I chanced to meet old Brother Model, a pilgrim 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 251 

of great wisdom and piety who had been long on the 
way. I was greatly surprised when he said to me : 
"Brother pilgrim, I am sorry I must tell you, but I 
fully believe you are possessed of a delusion that is 
doing the cause of Christ a great injury." I expressed 
great surprise and asked Brother Model to explain 
what he meant. 

"Well, brother," said he, "you have been telling all 
over this country that the Lord took your house from 
you to make you more faithful in laying up treasures 
in heaven. Now I know the Lord did not burn your 
house, and I do not believe he destroys people's prop- 
erty, or ever has done so since the days of Sodom and 
Gommorrah. Bob Pitkins was the fellow who burned 
your house, and the whisky gang hired him to do it 
because you were such a strong advocate of temper- 
ance. Instead of your house having been destroyed 
to make you better, it was destroyed because you were 
so good. God had nothing to do with its destruction, 
and could not prevent it without taking Bob Pitkins 
by the throat and stopping him, or destroying his 
whisky friends who were behind him, and their time 
had not yet come. God will give them justice by 
and by." 

"Now, my pilgrim brother," said Brother Model, 
"the statement that you made that God destroyed your 
property to make you better may have a good influ- 
ence on some few simple-minded Christians, but with 
most intelligent Christians it is very harmful, and out- 
side the church it is making infidels by the scores. Men 
of the world say : 'If that is true God must be very 
unjust and hard-hearted. He could surely find some 



252 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

other means to make people better without bringing 
such calamities upon them.' 

"I do not doubt but God has used this calamity as a 
Providence to make you a better man, but he did not 
send it upon you. I know it came from other sources ; 
I never can believe our loving Heavenly Father goes 
into partnership with such fellows as Bob Pitkins 
and his whisky-soaked set, to carry on his gracious 
work of grace in the Christian heart; but he may 
use the calamity they brought upon you as a kind 
Providence to make you a better man, thus turning 
evil into good and curses into blessings. ,, 

I expressed great surprise on learning who had de- 
stroyed my home, and thanked Brother Model for his 
interruption of God's Providence toward me; but I 
told him he could not much blame me for falling into 
the error I did, for I had heard it preached all my life. 

Brother Model said : "Yes, that is so. I remember 
quite well of hearing Parson Grimes at camp-meet- 
ing state before a thousand people that the Lord took 
Sigh Evans' child away to make him stop, his mean- 
ness and turn to God. The facts are, God never caused 
the death of Sigh Evans' child. He never does such 
things. Evans' child died a natural "death from ty- 
phoid fever, caused by impure water, as was clearly 
proved after its death. No doubt God in his goodness 
used this calamity as a kind Providence to lead Sigh 
Evans to become a Christian, but he never in any sense 
caused the death of the child. 

"That statement of Parson Grimes' did much harm, 
causing many to become skeptical, among which num- 
ber was Joe Pike, who lost a little boy a few weeks 
later. Joe Pike had always been an honest and moral 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 253 

man, but after the death of his darling boy, he remem- 
bered what the parson said, and church members de- 
clared it was true, and God had thus taken his little 
boy away to cause him to repent. Joe said if that was 
true, God was a hard-hearted cruel being, and he 
never could bow the knee to such a God. No doubt this 
doctrine was the cause of Joe Pike turning to infidel- 
ity and losing his soul." 

When Brother Model left me I went to God in 
prayer, and asked him to forgive my folly, and I prom- 
ised to be more thoughtful in the future. I was very 
sure I would never again be caught in the Vale of 
Delusions, but alas, I soon found myself again tread- 
ing that deceptive way. 

It came about in this way : I was attending a camp- 
meeting where God's people were giving their Chris- 
tian experience. One sister arose and said : "I have 
for a long time taken Christ as my Saviour from all 
sin, but recently I have taken him as my healer. Glory 
to God. Jesus is my healer! He takes away all dis- 
ease and gives me a perfect healthy body. Why can't 
every Christian take Christ as a healer as well as a 
Saviour." 

To me that was a new idea, and, as I had always 
made it a rule to never let any pilgrim outdo me in 
religion if possible to prevent it, it occurred to me that 
I, also, should take Christ as a healer. After meeting 
I talked with this sister about her experience, and she 
gave me great assurance that I could be healed of 
all my imperfections and physical troubles, and could 
in answer to my prayers, witness the healings of oth- 
ers. For a number of years I had been troubled with 
a number of aches and pains that seemed to baffle the 



254 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

skill of the physicians, and it seemed to me that this 
would be an easy way to get rid of them. I thought if 
this sister had received such an experience, I, also, 
could get it. She seemed intelligent and deeply pious, 
and I could not doubt her sincerity for one moment. 
True, some people said she was cranky, but I thought 
that came from their prejudice. I prayed most ear- 
nestly for this special power, and started out at once to 
try my hand at healing the sick. I prayed for Tom 
Park and he got well. I prayed for Betty Taylor and 
she got well. Then I went far and near, praying over 
the sick, and soon established quite a reputation. I 
did not hesitate to declare I had power in prayer to 
cure the sick and regarded it as a great achievement. 

One day I got word that mother was not expected 
to live. I felt very sure I could get the healing power 
bestowed upon her in answer to prayer, so I went into 
the secret closet and prayed long and earnestly that 
God would restore her to health and vigor of life. I 
was quite confident that I had the assurance that my 
prayer was answered, so I told our folks that they 
need not be uneasy, for mother was healed in answer 
to prayer. I was as confident of it as I would have 
been if I had seen her. The next day I went to see 
mother, fully expecting to find her better, but, alas, 
my dear mother was dead. I was thunderstruck and 
dumbfounded; no language can ever portray my dis- 
appointment. My faith in all prayer was greatly 
shaken; I felt bitter toward God, and the darkest 
gloom and despondency settled down upon me. In 
that dread hour I sank away into unconsciousness, and 
when I again came to myself I saw that I was out in 
the Vale of Delusions nigh unto the Rock of Despair 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 255 

and it seemed to me that the devil and a thousand fel- 
low spirits were falling over each other to get hold 
of me and drag me down to eternal perdition. My 
heart was faint and my hope of heaven was well nigh 
gone. Perhaps I would have given up in despair, 
but for the coming of old Brother Model to my res- 
cue. When he appeared and lifted his hands in prayer 
it seemed that the power of Satan was broken ; he and 
the evil spirits left me, and I again looked to the Lord 
Jesus and felt that I was rescued from that awful con- 
dition. 

Brother Model said : "My brother pilgrim, you have 
made a great mistake and have been led astray; not 
that you have done wrong in praying for the sick, 
for 'the prayer of faith shall save the sick,' and it is 
right that we should pray God's blessings upon the 
means that are being used for their recovery. But, 
brother, you have erred in supposing that God has 
obligated himself to answer all our prayers regardless 
of the fact that they may not sometimes be consistent 
with his Divine will. We often ask and receive, not 
because we ask amiss. In all our prayers for the sick, 
and all things else, we should condition the answer of 
our petitions upon Divine approval. This you have 
not done, but fully expected God to always do just 
what you thought best that he should do, whereas, 
you do not always know what is best. Doubtless God 
often in answer to prayer blesses the means that are 
being used to restore the sick, and in some cases pos- 
sibly restores without visible means, but it is a great 
delusion to suppose that any Christian has power to 
secure the recovery of all whom he may designate as 
the subject of prayer. It matters not how far we may 



256 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

be advanced in Christian life, we should always ask on 
conditions that God, in his supreme wisdom, sees best 
to answer. Even the Lord Jesus did this when he was 
on earth. In his prayer in the Garden of Sorrow he 
thrice prayed that the cup might pass from him, but 
each time on condition that it was the Divine will. It 
was not the Divine will, and that cup of sorrow did 
not pass from him. For the same reason it is possible 
that your prayers for your mother were not answered. 
You should have made that prayer on condition of 
Divine approval and then cheerfully accepted the con- 
sequences as the will of your loving Heavenly Fa- 
ther. Instead of that you expected God to do your 
will regardless of his will, and rebelled when you could 
not have your own way." 

When I was rescued from the Vale of Delusions, 
and restored to the way of holiness, I felt ashamed 
of myself to think how foolish I had been in being led 
astray, and ever since I have been warning the pil- 
grims against that dangerous and deceptive way. 



CHAPTER XX. 

I had not lived in this higher experience of Christian 
life many years until I again felt the need of a deeper 
work of grace, not because of willful sin or loss of 
spiritual power, but to meet the necessities of Christian 
life and work. As I looked up toward Emanuel's land 
I saw still another mount of Christian progress, and 
the pilgrims were ascending its lofty heights. I said : 
"I want all the experience there is for me," and I 
started up. 

There were no preachers there who opposed my fur- 
ther progress, and the devil made a weak and fruitless 
effort to stop me. When I got to the top of that 
mountain, behold it was not the end of Christian ex- 
perience. I kept on for over twenty years, and while 
every eminence in Christian progress, when viewed 
from below, seemed to be the last, when I got up there, 
I always found another higher experience waiting 
for my enraptured soul. I went right on from glory 
to glory until at last I saw Mount Pisgah in the dis- 
tance, and the river of Jordan, like a silver thread 
winding its way down the bosom of the mountain. 

257 



258 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

Then I cried, "Glory to God in the highest! Praise 
the Lord! for the end of my pilgrimage draweth 
nigh." 

I saw but little of Satan for many years. I very 
seldom got a glimpse of him, but just before I reached 
Mount Pisgah, he came as near as he could get to the 
way of holiness, and made the last desperate effort to 
drive me from the highway of Christian life. 

He took me completely by surprise. I was not ex- 
pecting him. He appeared this time as the old-time 
devil, with long horns, cloven feet and a fiendish look. 
He said to me: "Do you see that river up yonder 
running down the mountain side? That river runs 
down and passes through the holiness mountains just 
ahead of you, and there is no way of getting to glory 
without crossing it. It is a wide and turbid stream, 
full of eddies and whirlpools, besides it is right in the 
cyclone path, and great storms often sweep the pil- 
grims away when they begin to cross it. That is a 
dreadful place, the like of which you have never seen. 
The pilgrims quake and tremble at the sight of it. 
You have made great attainment in divine life, but 
you have not grace to take you across that awful river 
so full of terrors. Besides I shall meet you there and 
enter the last struggle for your soul. I have got many 
pilgrims who were higher in divine life than you are, 
and now if you do not turn back, your damnation is 
sure." 

For a moment I began to tremble, for when he said 
that he shook his bony finger at me in a most threat- 
ening manner. I was beginning to feel faint-hearted, 
when I thought of my Bible, and as I opened it my 
eyes fell upon these words: "Yea, though I walk 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 259 

through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear 
no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff 
they comfort me." (Psa. XXIII, 4.) "But God is 
faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above 
that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make 
a way to escape, that ye may be able to hear it." (1 
Cor. X, 13.) When I had read this and many other 
passages of Scripture, my heart was greatly strength- 
ened and I turned to Satan and said : "See here, you 
are wrong again. My God promises to be with me, 
even while crossing that great river. You may do 
your best, but you cannot touch me. 'Get thee behind 
me, Satan, thou art an offense to me.' " Then he de- 
parted, and I have never seen him from that day to 
this. 

Some of the pilgrims laughed at me because I 
trembled at the thought of death. They said I should 
not try to "cross the bridge until I got to it." They 
told me I did not need dying grace to live by, but when 
death came God would give me dying grace. 

As we ascended Mount Pisgah the balmy breeze 
from Emanuel's land refreshed us, the sweet-scented 
odors from the plains of glory inspired us, the celestial 
scenes that came to view enraptured us, a cloud of 
glory overshadowed us, and the baptism of spiritual 
power filled us. There was no terror there, but heav- 
enly splendor seemed to shine all around us. 

When we saw that our pilgrimage was almost ended 
it was but natural that we should stop a moment and 
look back at the scenes of our earthly pilgrimage be- 
fore passing over the river. As I looked back to the 
plains of sin from whence I came, I saw the quiet home 



260 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

in which I spent the scenes of childhood. I could still 
say: 

"How sweet to my memory are the scenes of my child- 
hood, 
When fond recollections present them to view." 

But the dearest spot on earth was the place where 
Christ came to my soul in the pardon of sin, where I 
first felt the throbbing of the impulses of the divine life, 
where I first felt the mountain of sin roll from my 
heart, where I first felt the glory of salvation fill my 
soul; where I first shouted the praises of God. Glory 
to God, I shall never forget old Mount Regeneration. 
Neither shall I ever forget the other mountains of 
Christian experience, where I received special bap- 
tisms of power all along the highway of holiness. 
Praise the Lord ! I can see all along my pilgrim path 
spots made dear to me by the heavenly visitations. It 
seems to me that it has been a reign of celestial fire 
almost all the way from Mount Regeneration to Mount 
Pisgah, and my pilgrimage is now ending in a shout 
of victory and a flame of glory. 

Even the temptations of the devil by the amazing 
grace of God have been transformed into blessings to 
strengthen me and lead me on to final victory. 

Let none think that Christian life is all temptations 
and troubles. No, glory to God, these are but a very 
small part of our experience. While I have looked 
mostly upon the dark side of Christian life, I would 
not leave the impression that religion has no bright 
and joyful side. The bright side is so glorious that 
an angel pen would fail to portray the wonders and 
glories through which the pilgrims pass. 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 261 

While Christian life is exposed to temptations from 
beginning to end, let no pilgrim fear the devil so long 
as that pilgrim is trusting in divine support. God is 
far more powerful than Satan. He can and he will 
save us from being harmed by Satan, if we but put our 
trust in him. Satan has great power, but God has 
greater power. Satan was once a mighty angel. When 
he fell he lost the angel purity, and what else we know 
not, but he seems to have retained much of his an- 
gelic intelligence and locomotion. As he was once 
swift to go on missions of love, he is now no less swift 
to go on missions of evil. He also has under his con- 
trol myriads of fellow spirits, who possess like swift- 
ness to go on errands of evil. Through their instru- 
mentality he can tempt the millions of pilgrims and yet 
not be omnipresent. 

The world's greatest danger is skepticism as to the 
existence of a devil ; let such a belief be embraced, and 
the devil's work becomes easy, for people will no 
longer be on their guard. 

We had as well deny the existence of God as that of 
the devil, for the former is taught in Scripture as 
plainly as the latter. 

As I stand here on Mount Pisgah at the close of 
my pilgrimage, I greatly desire to speak words that 
shall echo through all these mountains, and far out into 
the plains of sin, warning all mankind against the 
works of the devil, as I have seen them portrayed in 
God's word, and experienced their influence upon my 
Christian life. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

As I stand here on Mount Pisgah's glorious heights 
in full view of glory, I long to enter the celestial city 
and enjoy my heavenly home. As I look down upon 
the river of death, I am surprised for it is not the broad 
stream I expected to see. The poet who wrote, 

"Death like a narrow sea, 
Divides that heavenly land from ours," 

Must have made a great mistake, for it is no sea 
at all, but is so narrow that pilgrims cross it in 
a very few moments. It is not a turbid, swift-running 
stream, full of quicksands, as I had supposed, but it is 
clear as crystal, and has no dangerous whirlpools. 
There are no "stormy banks" here as the poets have 
said, but all is calm and serene. 

I kept wondering how the poets came to make so 
many mistakes about this river, as it was not nearly so 
dreadful as they painted it. Just then I chanced to 
look to the left and saw that the river ran off down 
through the plains of sin, and on by the land of perdi- 
tion. The farther it went through the plains of sin 
the darker aand more polluted it became, until it be- 
came a fearful, filthy, seething, roaring cataract. At 

262 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 263 

the place where the broad road that passes through 
the plains of sin crosses it into the land of perdition, 
I saw it was much wider, and I could see the storms 
and tornadoes sweeping across the river there. I could 
see a great multitude of people standing on those 
"stormy banks," while thousands and tens of thou- 
sands were coming sweeping in from the plains of 
sin, and they all crossed that stream and entered the 
land of perdition. 

I could see the dense smoke arising from the lake 
of fire and brimstone and forming a dark cloud all 
over the land. I could see the glare of the light upon 
those clouds when the devil stirred up the fires in the 
pits of perdition. 

As I looked upon these awful scenes I said, the half 
was never told, and I hid my eyes from the sight. I 
then understood that the dark pictures of the river of 
death portrayed only conditions that are found in that 
part of the river that runs through the plains of sin, 
and at which place the wicked cross. But up in the 
mountains of holiness where the Christians cross it 
had no terrors at all. It was but a small stream; it 
was not deep; it had no stormy banks; there was no 
devil there, and the pilgrims did not have to wade 
through the waters at all, for there were lifeboats all 
along the river which landed pilgrims on the other 
side in a very few moments. 

Pilgrims were not weeping and wailing as they came 
down to the river to pass over, but they looked as 
happy as the angels on the other side, and many of 
them shouted the praises of God all the way over. 

As I looked up and down the river I saw great 
multitudes — I should suppose more than ten thousand 



264 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

times ten thousand — all waiting on the banks anxious 
to pass over to Emanuel's land. They are all dressed 
in white garments, which is a token of the purity of 
their hearts, which have been washed and made white 
through the blood of the Lamb. 

The lifeboats were landing the pilgrims all the 
time, day and night. I suppose there were more than 
a thousand reached the other shore every moment. 
I saw thousands and tens of thousands of fathers and 
mothers, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, 
parents and children coming down to the river to meet 
their loved ones and welcome them home. There was 
a perpetual shout of triumph that sounded like the 
noise of many waters, and all the angels of heaven 
seemed to take up the chorus of praise until it became 
like a tidal wave through the entire length of Eman- 
uel's land. The chorus of hallelujahs with ten thou- 
sand angel trumpets seemed to fill all paradise with 
the Redeemer's praise. 

As I thus stood on Pisgah's lofty summit and viewed 
the landscape o'er I felt like joining the angel's chorus 
in giving glory to God and the Lamb. Death had lost 
its terror, and I longed to cross the river and join 
with others who had gone before, in roving over the 
heavenly plains, walking by celestial streams, sitting 
under the fragrant trees, drinking at the flowing foun- 
tains, plucking the blooming flowers and joining the 
heavenly host in giving eternal praise to our God. O, 
how I did long to reach that beautiful clime where 

"Sickness, sorrow, pain and death 
Are felt and feared no more." 

I could plainly see the celestial city, with its pearly 
gates, jasper walls, and lofty minarets. I could almost 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. . . 265 

hear the rustle of the chariots as they rushed through 
the golden streets. 

One thing I saw in this heavenly vision that greatly 
surprised me, and that was the great number of chil- 
dren who dwell in Emanuel's land. It seemed that 
more than half of heaven were children, and I was glad 
of it, for I always loved innocent children. I always 
wanted to go to the children's country. 

Again, I noticed that there were many more women 
in heaven than men; this also gave me no little sur- 
prise, until I remembered that the same thing was 
true of the church of God on earth. I said, how 
strange it is that the stronger should surrender to the 
devil while the weaker go on to victory and eternal 
happiness. I said, it is a grand thing that there is no 
marriage in heaven, for there would not be enough 
husbands to go around. 

What surprised me most of all was to see that some 
of the pilgrims from the common walks of life whom 
I had often met in my pilgrimage had mansions pre- 
pared for them in the very best part of the celestial 
city. Some of these common people who had never 
known much comfort here, nor received much praise 
or consideration from their fellow pilgrims, found, 
when they landed over in that city, that they had 
elegant mansions right on Grand Avenue, and some of 
the best people the church ever knew were their neigh- 
bors. 

Their advance agent had been there many years 
and had chosen them splendid locations, built them 
elegant mansions, and fitted their celestial homes with 
every possible comfort of that heavenly life. 



266 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

I had thought the saints were to be honored in 
heaven according to their eminence in the Church on 
earth. I found it was not to be so. But saints were 
rewarded according to their faithfulness in the use of 
the gifts and opportunities that they possessed in this 
life. The pilgrim who had ten talents stood no higher 
than one who had two talents, unless he made better 
improvement of them than his inferior brother did. 

I said, glory to God, the common people with one 
talent get as great reward in heaven as those who have 
ten talents, in case they make as good use of the one 
talent. 

I find that some pilgrims in the common walks of 
life were next door neighbors to such men as John 
Knox, John Bunyan, John Wesley, and John, the 
Apostle. 

While these humble pilgrims were delighted to know 
that they could enter the best society of heaven and 
mingle with the most noted people of all ages, that 
was not their chief joy. Their most thrilling thought 
was that of near and free access to the blessed Christ. 
Personal communication with the Lord Jesus seemed 
to be the highest aspiration of glorified saints. They 
did not love and cherish earthly ties less, but e they 
loved, venerated, and delighted in Christ the more. 
This rapturous and soul-absorbing communion with 
Christ seemed to overshadow all earthly ties and in- 
terests, so that Christ had complete rule and reign in 
their hearts and the welfare of no earthly tie could 
mar that heavenly bliss. 

I then understood that which had given me much 
perplexing thought during my pilgrimage, and that 
was, how it could be possible for pilgrims to be per- 



THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 267 

fectly happy in heaven if conscious that some of their 
nearest relatives and dearest friends were suffering in 
torment. I saw that those glorified saints were so filled 
with love for Christ and so absorbed in the divine will 
that they had no inclination to desire anything that 
would antagonize the divine will or question divine 
justice. They seemed to think that, as their relatives 
had continued to reject the offers of salvation and the 
invitations of the Gospel and brought on themselves 
eternal punishment, it was but right that they should 
suffer the penalty of their sins. The Divine Will was 
dearer to them than earthly ties. Rebellion against 
God's will in the interests of relatives, or even their 
own selves, was impossible. 

It was not a selfish enjoyment of their own rewards 
that led to this, for they loved their relatives and 
friends more dearly than ever, and would greatly 
desire their salvation if it were possible, but they 
esteemed the divine will above earthly ties. They 
could not ask that God violate the eternal principles 
of justice to rescue their dearest earthly friends, and 
they were so completely surrendered to the divine will 
that their happiness was not destroyed. 

I felt too that it was not, as some vainly teach, 
necessary for God to blot out our knowledge of such 
earthly friends or hide their destiny from our view, 
but our loving Heavenly Father draws us so near 
himself that our hearts beat in unison with his and 
our wills are swallowed up in the divine will, which 
is our chief delight and greatest joy. 

As I looked upon the scene of eternal felicity I felt 
that earth was receding and heaven was drawing most 
gloriously near. My earthly sun was setting, but the 



268 THE DEVIL UNMASKED. 

Son of righteousness was growing brighter unto that 
perfect day. The scenes of earth were fast fading, 
the outlines of the mountains of earth were now 
scarcely visible, but the splendor and glory of the 
celestial land increased every moment. 

I saw gathering on that shining shore a great com- 
pany of pilgrims and loved ones who had gone before 
me. They were assembling to welcome me home. 
In that happy throng I saw my dear father and mother, 
brother and sisters, and fellow pilgrims who were 
beckoning me over. I saw the shining angel band with 
their harps of gold waiting ready to join in the chorus 
of praise over my salvation. O ! the rapturous joy 
that rilled my soul. 

O ! the indescribable bliss that thrilled and animated 
my entire being, as I saw the little lifeboat coming for 
me. I could but exclaim farewell friends of earth, 
farewell earthly cares and troubles, my pilgrimage is 
ended, my life's work is done, and I am going home to 
reign with Christ forever. 

Little Deacon. 



*M 26 1900 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Nov. 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



' 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



052 339 8 t 




